Little known political party Malaysia Ceylonese Congress (MCC) wants to do its bit for the innocent war victims in Sri Lanka.

For starters the party which has been in existence for the past 50 years hopes to raise fund to be channelled to aide the thousands of Tamils who were placed in welfare camps by the Sri Lankan government.

mcc interview 03062009 dr nks tharmaseelan "We are hoping to collect half a million ringgit through the MCC-Sri Lankan Human Tragedy Fund that would be launched soon," said the party's president Dr NKS Tharmaseelan in an interview yesterday.

There are also plans afoot to send a medical team to Sri Lanka, he added. The pro-Barisan Nasional party has some 7,000 members.

In the past, the party had given monetary support and donated to other funds meant for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

He also said that the party has sent several doctors via Mercy Malaysia to provide medical aid.

Sri Lanka recently declared victory over the LTTE after a 30-year civil strife. The military was involved in heavy fighting with the rebels since the turn of the year, causing huge humanitarian conflict in the process.

Thousands - some media reports quoted that at least 30,000 innocent civilians had died in the final days of the war - were killed and many more were displaced.

sri lanka tamil tigers admit prabhakaran death 250509 02 Tharmaseelan was upset that the world at large had been largely quiet on what was happening to the war victims in Sri Lanka.

"It is human tragedy that is happening there. No medicines are allowed in. The government of Sri Lanka has something to hide," he said.

Tharmaseelan also did not shy away from expressing his support for the Tamil Tigers who had fought for a separate state in Sri Lanka.

"Yes we are supportive of the Tamil Tigers' cause in Sri Lanka. We have given various protest memorandums to the Sri Lankan envoy. We have also not attended any social functions held by the Sri Lankan embassy as a mark of protest."

"I also don't agree with the terming of terrorist on the Tigers,'" he added.

Making non-Indians understanding the issue

Meanwhile in another development, the World Tamil Relief Fund and few other NGOs will be launching their own fund for the Sri Lankan war victims tomorrow.

sri lankan war victims fund 03062009 crowd 1 Speaking at a press conference yesterday to announce this, the organisers said that members of public are invited to donate money, medicines and canned food with long shelf life to be shipped over to the victims.

They can make their donations at the Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

The relief fund will be spearheaded by S Pasupathi from the World Tamil Relief Fund, Coalition of Malaysian NGOs head K Arumugam and K Ambikaipakan of Vivekananda Ashram.

MIC Youth wing coordinator T Mohan meanwhile said that MIC would liaise with the Foreign Ministry to ensure that the aid can be sent directly to the war victims.

Also present at the press conference was DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago who called for more pressure to be applied on the Indian government to ensure these war victims were properly treated.

He also said that there were many victims who were taking refuge in India

"They also need help," he said.

sri lankan war victims fund 03062009 k arumugam sp pathi and k ampikaipagan At the same time, the organisers also said that it was important to internationalise the issue from being seen as just a ‘Tamil issue' to an ‘international humanitarian conflict'.

"We will be hosting another forum for non-Indian NGOs to familiarise them to catastrophe that is happening," said Arumugam.

This same group of organisers have previously organised protests against the Sri Lankan government. The last was a rally at Batu Caves which attracted about 5,000 people.