Letter to editor
THE 11th International Tamil Research Conference scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur from July 21-23 with Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim slated to inaugurate the event the next day is baffled with the appointment of Human Resources Minister Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu – a Telugu by birth – as its chairman.
V. Sivakumar as he is often referred to is not known to Tamil scholars and academicians worldwide. Furthermore, he is not a deeply learned Tamil literature scholar nor passionately interested in Tamil. He is not even familiar among local Tamil writers and poets.
Jointly organised by the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR), Universiti Malaya, OMS Foundation and the Malaysian government, the conference is poised to be a gathering of Tamil scholars and researchers from across the globe.
This is not a political conference. More than 3,000 Tamils from over 50 countries are expected to gather in Kuala Lumpur.
It is known to those who have been associated with the preparatory work for the conference that a deserving chairman for the event would be OMS Thiagarajan, a Tamil and the founding chairman of OMS Foundation.
Why was the respected social worker who has been holding meetings for the past three months with his team suddenly dropped from the chairmanship and be made the organising secretary instead?
Last week, Anwar appointed Tapah MP and MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan as joint chairmen of the conference alongside Sivakumar who is also the DAP MP for Batu Gajah.
Obviously, we know that Saravanan is a Tamil and has contributed to the Tamil language through various modes on the basis of his deep knowledge of literature.
The historical International Tamil Research Conference was first held in Kuala Lumpur in 1966. The International Association of Tamil Research Organization was first mooted by Thaninayagam Adikalar who was the then serving as professor at the University of Malaya’s Indian studies Department.
Subsequently, three of the Tamil conferences were held in Kuala Lumpur in 1966, 1987 and 2015. In 1966, Tunku Abdul Rahman inaugurated the conference in his capacity as PM. The honour went to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1987 and Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2015.
MIC played a vital role in organising those international Tamil conferences. Now it is indeed a big honour for Malaysia that the fourth installment of the international Tamil conference is coming back to Kuala Lumpur during Anwar’s tenure as PM.
Therefore, the PM must get it right for the Tamils by appointing a Tamil – not a Telugu – as a chairman for an International Tamil conference. – July 13, 2023
Tamil Vaanan
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
