In his opening speech at the 11th World Tamil Research Conference in Kuala Lumpur, guest-of-honour Anwar Ibrahim said the event was an example of unity across the political spectrum and that the Indian community in Malaysia had taken the lead in building the nation.
“We have a DAP (Democratic Action Party) guy with an MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) guy, and with Keadilan (People’s Justice Party) guys clapping. What is wrong? Nothing wrong! We have matured as a nation,” the Prime Minister said before a cheering audience.
But the July 21-23 Conference was not without its share of bickering and controversies.
It is not easy to gather an international audience of more than 3,000 to discuss 500 Tamil academic essays.
Started in Malaysia in 1966 by Sri Lankan Tamil scholar and Roman Catholic priest Xavier S. Thani Nayagam, the Conference discusses the social growth of the Tamil language and aims to unite research scholars.
But over the years, differences have cropped up among the groups wanting to control it.
This time the jockeying for power erupted as early as last year when two rival organisers announced two separate locations for the event.
A faction of the International Association of Tamil Research, led by Dr Murugesan Ponnavaiko, Vice-Chancellor of Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu, said it would be held in Singapore last year. But it was moved to Chennai after no Tamil organisation from Singapore supported it.
But the version of the conference in Chennai on July 8 did not receive any submission from Singapore reserchers or writers.
Another faction of The International Association of Tamil Research led by Dr Marimuthu Thangaveloo, a professor of social psychology at Universiti Malaya, initially said the conference would be held in Dubai last year. But it announced in April that the venue was changed to Malaysia because of economic constraints.
With each faction accusing the other of usurping the leadership of the association, several Singapore-based Tamil organisations chose to stay away from the conference that was held at the Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur last month. They had also stayed away from the July 8 event in Chennai.
But Singapore writers M. Anbalan, N. Andiappan, M Elias and Rathina Vengadesan submitted four essays at the Kuala Lumpur conference helmed by Dr Marimuthu.
The days leading up to the conference also saw another controversy.
Online reports said the decision to allow Malaysia’s Education Minister V. Sivakumar to deliver the welcome speech was not accepted by Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) deputy leader M. Saravanan. The supporters of both leaders nearly came to blows over the issue.
Finally, their differences seemed to have been resolved and they shared the stage to give welcome speeches at the opening ceremony.
But just the day before, another controversy erupted when Tamil Nadu’s Dalit leader and president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi Thol Thirumavalavan remarked on stage that, unlike Christianity and Islam, Hindu philosophy runs contrary to equality and brotherhood.
His remark drew the ire of the audience, with some calling for Mr Thirumavalavan to be removed from the stage.
Malaysia’s Deputy Minister for Entrepreneurship Development and Cooperatives Saraswathy Kandasami intervened, calling for tolerance while rebuking Mr Thirumavalavan for his utterances.
The conference, which was funded to the tune of one million ringgit by the Malaysian government and supported by businessman and philanthropist O.M.S. Thiagarajan, was attended by more than 1,500 delegates from Malaysia alone. Four hundred came from India and the rest from other countries – including the 75 delegates from Singapore, led by businessman Harikrishnan Muthusamy.
Former Nominated Member of Parliament R. Dhinakaran gave a speech entitled “Tamil in the Singapore Government”.
Ms Kandasami told tabla! that she was heartened to see the delegates from Singapore. Describing Indian Singaporeans as the “umbilical kin” of Indian Malaysians, she said “Singapore’s participation in the Conference can be seen as a renewal of the relationship”.
