I would like to respond to the news published in Free Malaysia Today, as I acted as the Secretary for the said Sri Lankan War Relief Fund 2009. The sub-committee formed with the consent of Penang DAP was chaired by (then) DAP Committee Member, YB RSN Rayer & he was assisted by a Deputy, Mr. A. Krishnan, another DAP State Committee Member at that time. I acted as Secretary and Saudara Gunalan from Taman Inderawasih DAP branch acted as Treasurer in the committee. Penang Deputy Chief Minister, YB. Prof Ramasamy, only acted as an Advisor to the committee and at no point of time, he presided over any meeting as mentioned in the article.
We, the committee members, initiated the campaign, as we were following the humanity crisis in Sri Lanka which reached its peak during 2009. Many Tamil civilians were badly affected by the war. We, mainly Myself, Gunalan & Mr. A. Krishnan decided to have a campaign to raise fund to be channeled to the war victims in Sri Lanka. We felt that, it would be suitable to have it under the DAP banner, as three of us are the members of the party, and the party had in past organized events to raise funds to be channeled to the Tamils, who were displaced in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. We suggested, YB Rayer to head the committee, as he is an Assemblyman and also a DAP State Committee Member. Then, we sought advice from YB Prof Ramasamy on the matter, as he had wide knowledge on the issues related to Tamil Diaspora. YB Prof Ramasamy agreed to be our adviser.
We had organized few brainstorming sessions with people with concerned about the plight of Tamils. In one of the meeting that was held in Butterworth, Prof Ramasamy was invited to brief on the conditions of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. He at no point chaired meetings in regards to the Sri Lankan Tamil Relief Fund. Statements suggesting that, he had done so, are clearly misleading and untrue.
On 8th of March 2009, the Committee organized a mammoth rally in Butterworth Dewan Haji Ahmad Badawi Field, in support of the Tamil War Victims of Sri Lanka. The rally saw nearly 10,000 people turning up to support the cause. In the rally DAP & PKR leaders were invited to address the crowd on the humanitarian crisis and worsening war condition in Sri Lankae. DAP National Chairman, YB Karpal Singh, DAP Secretary General YAB Lim Guan Eng, Penang DAP Chairman YB Chow Kon Yeow, DAP Deputy Sec Gen YB Prof Ramasamy, Bagan Dalam DAP State Assemblyman YB A. Tanasekaran, then Deputy Chief Minister I of Penang, Mohd Fairuz Khairuddin were among the speakers. All of them people who addressed the crowd condemned the brutal killings of innocent Tamils by the Sri Lankan forces and pledged their solidarity for the cause. That was the last day of fund raising, with the donors ranged from Individuals, organizations had came forward to pledge their contribution to the fund. We officially announced that the campaign was a success and the funds will be channeled to the Tamils in Sri Lanka who were badly affected by the war. We also announced, that the fund raised in the month long campaign was amounted at RM73,960.40.
In mid March 2009, we then finalized the details of the accounts and after having settled the outstanding amount to the suppliers of the event at Butterworth, the committee had deposited about RM 65,000 + into the Penang DAP Account in Public Bank. Later, the committee had met to finalize the details of the fund raised and the way to channel the fund to the Tamil war victims in Sri Lanka. After due consideration, we decided to channel the funds to an UK based organization, Mercy Mission, which initiated a campaign, "Mercy Mission to Wanni". We felt that "Mercy Mission" would be a better organization, for us to channel the funds, as we from the beginning doubted the sincerity of the Sri Lankan Govt, which is a party in the conflict and blamed as responsible for brutal killings of thousands of Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka. We concluded that, any funds channeled to the Sri Lankan Govt for the purpose of reconciliation of Tamils will not benefit the war victims, as Sri Lankan Govt, from the beginning had never been sincere in helping the Tamils. We too, had announced this through Tamil newspapers for the knowledge of the public. Most of the Tamils in Malaysia, who were following the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict would have the knowledge of this mission which, had sent a aid ship named "Vanangaa Mann" to Sri Lanka.
If I am not mistake, I remember it was myself and the sub-committee Deputy Chairman, Mr. A. Krishnan were the two who had went to the Public Bank in Jalan Macalister, Penang to complete the transaction of the fund transfer. We chose Mercy Mission, because the organization was spearheading a campaign to assist the 300,000 Internally displaced people in North-East of Sri Lanka at that time. Tamil diaspora around the world had contributed to the mission. The mission had sent a ship, MV Captain Ali (which also known as "Vanangaa Mann" in Tamil) to the aid of the victims, which was later intercepted and detained by the Sri Lankan authorities later. I would stress here that, YB Prof Ramasamy, had never interfered in this matter at any point of time, as he was only advising the committee on the issues related to the knowledge of the ethnic conflict and the humanitarian crisis.
All the accounts related to the fundraising were submitted to the DAP Penang State Committee accordingly. Any member of the party, who wishes to know more about the details should have contacted the former members of the sub-committee involved or the State DAP itself, instead of going to the media. One's intention of doing so (going to the media), would be nothing else, than to tarnish the good name of the party and to raise the public doubts about the party's or party leaders integrity. And the general public who know our sincerity in helping those war victims, had never suspected or raised any doubts on the issue, as they know we had done everything in transparent manner, without any self agenda. We welcome if any to lodge a report with Police or MACC regarding the matter, and we are ready to assist in any investigations, as everything was done properly in a transparent manner.
Any attempts to link the campaign which we initiated in the early 2009, with terrorist organizations or wrong doings were merely on based on mala fide. And I believe blaming a person, who is not at all involved directly in the process of the sub-committee is malicious and libelous. And those people behind these malicious and libelous claims, should be prepared to face the legal consequences too, if any party decided to bring the matter to the court.
Satees Muniandy
Secretary
DAP-Sri Lankan War Victim Relief Fund 2009
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