Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The "Malaysian Indian" political fiasco

  I am republishing this article because nothing has changed, save for the possibility that Uthay is being used b the BN to be the spoiler at the next General Elections.
The HINDRAF a former NGO is not a member of the Pakatan. 
The Pakatan is made up of 3 multi racial parties, and does not subscribe to racial parties.


"When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn............." Bob Dylan

...at the rate Indian political parties are being formed it is only matter of time before there are more Indian political parties then there are Indians in this country.

this one claims to be an "Indian multi racial party" now try and beat that




The Indian community in Malaysia are being led by a some selfish Tamils who are only in it to pursue their own selfish interests, and in the process betray the entire Indian community.

In this process many Indians who are not Tamils are lumped  into this group and branded similarly, and this explains why the prominent  Sikhs, Malayalees and  Telegus prefer to stay away.

The problems of the Indian community lies within the community itself, every Samy, Subramaniam, and Uthay can claim to represent the community, and they come out with  numbers of "supporters" , and each of them espouses to champion the "Indian Cause." The funny thing is many  of Samy's supporters are Subramaniam's  supporters and also Uthay's supporters too,  and to understand this better you have to take a close look at what happened in  Kampung Buah Pala.

What is this Indian cause anyway?

To many it is to give the Indians the same kind of rights that were accorded to the Malays in the NEP, I say Malay and not Bumiputera because if one takes a close look at the native population of this country, they the natives (asli) seem to be in worse shape then the Malaysian Indians, it is not only the Indians who are marginalised, the Senoi, the Jakun, the Negrito, the Dayak, the Iban, the Kadazan and all the other real natives of this country are far more marginalised then the Indians so what is this marginalisation these champions of the Indian cause are talking about?


I am not saying that there is no marginalisation amongst the Indians, there is, but are they the only ones marginalised?


In professional circles amongst the Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and in other professions, the Indians compared to, in ratio of population may seem even better off then the other major races, so why is it there is a great number that is marginalised?

The answer lies on the selfish few, who claim to represent Indian interest and in this pursuit actually enrich themselves just like the UMNO top brass does with the Malays.

Real Malaysian Indian professionals prefer to remain miles away from the grasp of these politicians in order to keep their image and name free from blemish. How many times do you see the leadership of MIC berate and insult its own professional members when they disagree with them? So the attitude of Indian professionals is: "why should I?"

It is a fallacy to believe that "marginalisation" amongst Malaysians exist only amongst the Indians, it exists among the Malays first, who are told a lot of things, of the what is being done for them, then told to be wary of the other races, and have all the allocations made out to them given to the selected UMNO big wigs and those whose favour they require. 


Similarly, the Chinese and the Indians, and this will explain how top Ministers and Menteris Besar and Chief Minsiters become Millionaires after getting into politics, it also explains why the respective BN party heads cling on to power, and the ways they go to undermine and kick out any member who poses a challenge to them and their authority.

Now to get back to the Indian community, at the rate Indian political parties are being formed it is only matter of time before there are more Indian political parties then there are Indians in this country.

Do the Indians who form a Political party at every turn, really think that these political party will represent their interest?

If they think so then they are idiots of the highest order, they'll first have to come to grips with representation, and in so doing, the question that goes abegging is; Which parliamentary constituency in Malaysia commands an Indian majority electorate, even if there were ten they would still be a minority, but the sad truth is there isn't even one, not even a state constituency so where are these political parties headed for, and who do they really represent?

The truth to the last question is that they represent themselves (those who form these parties) and in their respective parties their share of the loot, in this racial fiasco to support UMNO's pipe dream, their earnings  commensurate with their position in the hierarchy of the party.

Indians in this country need the leadership that will take them to the level where they use their singular vote as Malaysians rather then Indians, and that the community gives that vote to non racial parties and that they vote in toto to swing their vote towards such parties to ensure a fair share of the pie.

This voting pattern could swing from right to left and to the right again depending on what is gained or not gained, small issues must be kept small the big picture has to be taken into account, they need to regain their pride, they need to be recognised as one of he biggest partners in Nation Building and not merely as indented labour, not much better then slaves, the future of all Malaysians is to be less, Malay, Chinese and Indian and be more Malaysian and this what the Malaysians of all communities, especially Indians have to realise. They have to rid themselves of this mental marginalisation, they have to stop looking for immediate favours, they have to look at the long term and elect leaders who do this for them.

The formation of more political parties will only make the community worse, many of its brains like the brains of the other communities have left the country for greener pastures, the less fortunate are left to fend for themselves and most often at their expense and to their own peril they support people who thrive on this support - this so called "Indian Political Parties," whose only purpose is to serve their own purpose."


HINDRAF began as what looked like a very credible organisation it was not political, its aims were noble, the Government in trying to incarcerate its leaders only gave it more credibility, but its own leaders by their present day actions are killing the very seeds of progress they planted.

Now HINDRAF is planning to form its own political party, being a Malaysian of Indian origin, I defended the name HINDRAF when some people in government said it was a movement only for Hindus, because of the name Hindu Rights Action Front, my argument was based on what I used to share long before HINDRAF came into existence. It is wrong to refer to me as Indian, that is an anglicised word, the Europeans went to America attempting to take the North West passage, and found the natives of America there and called them Indians, now after Vasco D'Gama came via the Cape of Good hope to India, they referred to the people of present day India (Hindustan) as Indians and the western "Indian" became a " Red Indian."

I do not ride a horse without saddle that skill is with the natives of North America for whom I have the greatest respect, so stop calling me an Indian, and the native of North America will tell you the same thing, I am a Hindu, check the Chinese vocabulary, they have all along referred to the Indians as Indu, the people below the Indus Valley, so calling the body HINDRAF does not denote religious connotations.

Sadly some members of Indian organisations in a recent attack on another Indian called Anthony Bosco, started mocking him and his name and questioning his status as an Indian. The late Anthony Bosco has had nothing but the interest of marginalised Malaysians in mind,an ex unionist,  he has been noted for it, he has always fought their cause, he could have turned politician a long time ago, but he was no opportunist. I doubt any HINDRAF memebrs and probably some he would have helped know who this Anthony Bosco is, and he is certianly no racialist.

Racialism will get us nowhere, it will be the death knell of any society, it always has been, this is a shrinking globe where every man is a brother, and where equality should prevail regardless of race, creed or culture, its a melting pot of all this, marginalisation is not confined to only one community, those who marginalise are not confined to one community alone, the majority in Malaysia who marginalise others are Malays, and similarly the most marginalised are actually the poor Malays because they happen to make the biggest number in the population, nothing else, so when we look at lifting the marginalised we should look at every Malaysian, we should make lifting the marginalised our priority, that way we work towards a better Malaysia, it has to start with us, yes us meaning me first.

More than fifty years of independence what have we got to show for it, the Petronas Twin Towers? The F1 racing track? the third longest bridge in the world? Beautiful hotels (quite often unkept)? or  buildings and Industrialised Malaysia, where many of its workers live below the poverty line, where squatters abound, where illiterate children of illiterate Malaysian parents, are roaming aimlessly, where drug addiction is rife, where foreign workers earn more then the Malaysian worker, where the independence and integrity of the Judiciary, the Police Force, the Attorney Generals Chambers and even the Government is in question, whre the integrity of the office of the Prime Minsiter has been compromised by his reluctance to take on RPK, and the reluctance of the investigating authority to investigate him on the Altantuya case,  where racial polarization is order of the day,   and all this has come about because of uninterrupted rule of UMNO and its lackeys - the UMNO prescription.

More then fifty years after independence  our Malaysian worker who was amongst he most productive in the world is today lagging far behind, he is paid far less then his Singapore counterpart, in fact less then half the wages of a Singaporean, and why because he suddenly became inefficient and lazy? No, friend he became less productive because the system has become more corrupt, and this corruption has led to the workers downfall so whilst the powerful corrupt become richer the nation is bled and the Malaysian worker marginalised.



The same worker who was once responsible for making this country the worlds largest exporter of Rubber, Palm Oil, Tin, Semiconductors and domestic Air conditioners, are today without jobs, their plants and estates shut down, and why? The only valid reason is corruption, it bleeds productivity, its not because China has cheap labour, Sweden has labour that costs maybe five times that of Malaysian labour, why are we still importing Swedish furniture made of cheaper wood and paying premium prices for it, its all because of productivity. We import a lot from Sweden, oh yes, and France, the US, Korea, Japan and they all have labour costs much higher then ours. Now examine what corruption has done.

On March 8,2008 the people of Malaysia had taken the first step towards change, that change cannot come overnight, the BN is not about to give the opposition an easy ride, they have disposed of one state government, they have neutralized or are in the process of neutralizing HINDRAF, and we stand and watch.

HINDRAF and the Indians have to take stock, stop wallowing in self pity, you are not the only ones marginalized, if we follow a policy of taking care of the have nots then all those who live below the poverty line be they Indian, Chinese or Malay, be they Kadazaan, or Dusun, Negrito, or Orang Laut, every marginalised Malaysian will be given the first bite of the pie and that is what HINDRAF and every other Malaysian should strife for. United we'll stand, we will be the bedrock of the society, but if we fall for these petty racial games we shall be doomed to remain as the 'Asia Week" once put it, "The orphaned Children of South East Asia." And I honestly fear that HINDRAF is playing up to this gallery, the gallery of UMNO.

Every Malaysian should rise above racial politics, discard the racial parties, rid this nation of corruption at every level, and embrace a Malaysia in which its people (we) are less Indian, Chinese, Malay, Kadazaan, Dayak, and more Malaysian.

In parting I think all Indians in this country should note that with all the so called "Indian Political Parties" in this country they could hardly even line up five Indians in Parliament, but since the last general elections, the number of Indians in Parliament and State Assemblies have more then tripled, they are seen in numbers. The question is; How many of these are from the Barisan? The majority came from the opposition, and not because they were Indians, but because they were selected on merit.

At the next General elections they may be more or, on the other hand there may be less far less, the seats have to go on merit, not to Indian or Chinese or Malays, not to natives but to Malaysians, the candidates must be worthy of the seat, people who can represent, who can see the issues, who can offer solutions, who are analytical, who are able to see the big picture,and who are worthy leaders of the people, they have to be truly Malaysian, not Indian, Chinese or Malay.



We have to be less Malay, Chinese or Indian, and more Malaysian, because we are the immigrant races it includes the Malay. The natives the Asli have a right to be native and yet Malaysian.

Get rid of the notion that the Indians are the most marginalised, far from it, they are not, the natives are more marginalised then them, so the next time we make noise we make noise about the Malaysians being marginalised and all this because of what I call  "the UMNO prescription."

Toffee

1 comment:

  1. Could not agree more. When a Tamil says "Indians are not being given leadership positions to represent the Indian community" what he really means is that he wants a position without any effort. It is a truism that people will support someone who looks after them.When that happens they blame that organisation as being "racist".

    In the DAP there are many people of Indian sub-continent origin who have overcome this sort of thinking and have been working (quietly) for all Malaysians. Some are Tamil whilst other are not.

    It is same for the Malays, Chinese and Eurasians in the party. They are all working for Malaysia without taking into account things like race. Perhaps (and sadly, probably) this kind of thinking is too sophisticated for the average MIC supporter.

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