Interlok - A lesson for the Malaysian Indians

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The Malaysian Indians think they have found a new way getting what they want from the government, but alas UMNO seems to know how to trick this bunch like they have been doing since the British Raj left us in 1957.

Its just a matter of getting another Indian to do the job for them, it has paid dividends  handsomely to UMNO  in the past and it will continue to do so in the future if they continue to dance according to the BN music., orchestrated by BN's running dog the  MIC, and now probably the HRP as well.

Nothing, yes nothing worth getting will come easy, and the Indians have to realise this, they  will have to struggle and only after a good struggle will they get it.

Not that the Malaysian Indian has not struggled but that he has been deprived and robbed of the fruits of his struggles, robbed by his own kind under the direction of UMNO.

The BN has made them believe all this time that they care for the Indians, and the Indians believed them because there was the MIC telling them that story, and they bought it, and  today they have realised that all these assurances  were nothing but empty promises, this cumulative loss of   54 years cannot be gained back in a single electoral term, it takes time, "Rome was not built in a day" it took a little longer. The Indians must know this, this is a message that must reach every Indian.

The NLFCS, MAICA, Telecom shares and  a lot more will testify to this, other then a monumental building in the heart of the City which an Indian plantation worker can only  point to if he has the means to get there, one wonders what more  he as achieved for all the money he has placed in that cooperative, after all those long years what were the returns the Indian investors got  for their  investments  in all these organisations, and what happened to the Telecom Shares and the  Metrod shares, all these have been conveniently swept under the carpet.

There is so much that the Indian workers are deprived of they were once rightfully referred to as." the Orphan Children of Asia," specifically the Indians of Malaysia. They are literally dumped in a scrap heap, when it comes to allocations and privileges, but Indians are great survivors and they will battle on but must be given the right guidance, and I hope history has taught them that this cannot come from narrow minded people who try and steer them down the racial path, that is one street they will never gain anything from.

Each time  the Indians get out of this scrap heap it is easy to get them back into it, all the BN does  is to  use the scrap heap dog in the BN and believe me the dogs are very efficient in doing so, they have been doing it all these years.

At the last elections the Indians led by HINDRAF voted against the government, they were abused, kicked, had chemically laced water sprayed on them, beaten with batons, charged with murder, and even jailed under the ISA, for attempting a peaceful march to the British High Commission to hand over a petition, the police took offense or rather UMNO took offense, its quite difficult to say who because they'll blame each other.

This outrages and barbaric treatment of the Indians so close to the General Elections, saw the Indians vote against the government, the BN lost its famous two thirds majority and  for the first time since independence  the Indians played a massive part in that campaign, whilst the BN chief at that time Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was asleep.

Then came came Badawi's ouster and Najib became top dog ,  he devised new plans, he got the scrap yard dog to send his pups to the Indians, knowing only too well that the Indians would throw stones on the scrap yard dog, they had identified him, and thye knew he was useless to their cause he was a menace, so he was constantly driven out. 

The strategy was not to do anything for the Indians, but to identify and appoint new scrapyard dogs from the Indians, those who wield considerable influence in  the new groups,   these new scrap yard dogs,  were assigned  find fault with the opposition, demand the impossible from them, and when they could  not meet those demands, discredit them within the community,  then they began blackmailing them, with threats to stop voting for them, demanding  seat allocations for themselves, just to disrupt this unity that had taken place amongst peoples in Malaysia, and Najib did do a good job of it, he seems to be succeeding.

With all this happening the Indians are left rudderless again, and that is because they choose like Muhyuddin the DPM to be Indian first and Malaysian last.

The  Hindu Rights Party was formed with the tacit support of Najib, and they claim it is multiracial, that is the wonder of Najib - a party made up of a 100 percent Indians is now a multiracial party, he managed that, they supported him in Kerling,and defeated the opposition.

The HRP was founded by the leadership of the HINDRAF, a clear indication that this group's actions in mustering Indian support was to find a way to oust Samy Veloo and replace the MIC with HRP.  Samy Veloo's term was coming to an end there was no way anyone but his own anointed successor would take over from him, that was Samy's control of the party, he had absolute control as MIC President and throughout his tenure as president he brooked no opposition, any attempt from anybody outside his circle had to be be done from the outside and HINDRAF was the answer to fill in the vacuum that would be left by Samy, they almost suceeded but alas there is a MIC president now.

HINDRAF first approached Badawi, but he turned a blind eye, he refused to listen to them, he ignored them, they went to him with the problems of the community, and in typical Badawi fashion he just let them go on and say what they wanted, then they came out with this plan of asking the British to compensate every Indian in the country, they decided to March to the British High Commission and present the petition, and Badawi decided to show his muscle, the reuslt is well documented.

Today as a result HINDRAF has Indian supporters, but do not blame them, the ignorance of the Indian voter is something the Barisan thrives on, it stems from the Tamil schools that were set up by the British to propagate Indian  Estate labour , so the standards were made hopelessly low, the classrooms terribly ill equipped and children were placed in environments where it  was almost impossible  to learn.

It suited UMNO's purpose no need for a big allocation of University places for the Indians,  those not successful will go to India, if they are girls they'll get married there and probably not come back it was a well hatched plan.

In the early seventies when I worked a for a short while in Bukit Cheraka Estate in Jeram Selangor, the school was just beside our office and there were only two classrooms to cater for the entire school in that division called Bukit Janda and the estate workers Letchumy Thotam, so you'd get children from all different classes in one classroom with one teacher in each class, those children will be anywhere between 46 and 51 years old today, and I can imagine the mindset, so how can you blame them.

These people are easily maneuverable, and you have to be able to play on their emotions to win them over, to do that you must know the language and how to speak it, so they understand you and buy what you have to say, and that will explain why so many opportunists in that community jump the bandwagon to fleece and live on the misery of their own kind.

I had mentioned in an earlier posting, that never in the history of this country have  so many Malaysians of Indian origin been voted into Parliament and State Assemblies, they did not win these positions on racially based parties like the HRP or the MIC they won it on multiracial parties like the PKR and the DAP, and were given these seats on merit not because they are Indians,  and yet now they have formed the HRP with the blessing of the government of course, and why not, because that is what this UMNO led BN government wants, and there is no decent Indian to take this matter up with his own community, other then for his own personal benefit.

The latest person to come out with a emphatic plea on the Interlok case is Bishop Tan, he does not represent Indians, he is no Indian either, and the Malaysian Indians must realise that their  interest will  not be served by racially based parties, but they do not have the capacity to understand this, the only way is for the Indian elite, more so the Tamil elite to go out there and keep the  community informed and educated of the real issues that plague them..

The Interlok case is here, it hurts this society terribly, so it has been said, it will make a mockery of the Inidans in the country that is what we are led to believe, is it really the case or is it a political gimmick by some Inidan politicians, we really do not know, because the issues have not been really transparent and that is exactly how politics is played in this country.

Some quarters in the Indian community feel that it has been created so that the Indians can be ridiculed and looked down upon by the contents of this book, and the only way out of it maybe is for the Indian is  to become a Malay, that is what they call it, "masuk Melayu,"  is to become a Malay, like so many Indians have. To become a Malay you have to first become a Muslim, speak the Malay language and adopt Malay customs as easy as that then say, "saya melayu" or at least your children get classified as Malay, sounds really easy.

Is that  the real threat facing the Malaysian Indian today with Interlok?

Who is there to support them when all their leaders are worried about right now,  are seats and as history has shown us they'll sell all that for their own personal gains.

The PR has been asked to allocate 30 seats to HINDRAF for their support, probably the BN will enter a bargain with them for it and buy Indian rights in the process, or this demand could  have been mooted by the BN's agents within the HINDRAF they could be in league with the BN to drive a wedge between the Indian community and the opposition and from the looks of it the BN seems to be doing a good job of it.

The latest I have been told is there is a demand for  Professor Ramasamy to hand over Batu Kawan to HINDRAF.

Interlok's   introduction  into the form five literature syllabus, the demolition of temples prior to the last elections, the continued  deaths of Indian youth in Police custody, with all these  what has the Indian community achieved from the likes of the MIC, HINDRAF and HRP.

The hope of the Malaysian Indian community and for that all Malaysians lie in  Malaysian consciousness, to be Malaysian first and Indian, Chinese or Malay second.

The man behind the introduction of  this book into schools is the deputy PM of Malaysia, he has openly declared he is Malay first, so can he look at this issue objectively? I think not, his Malayness will cloud this issue, his priorities are different, the author is Malay too, it is not seen to be right.

Is this what the Indians or  rather the Tamils want?

The only answer to this is with   the Tamil elite and other Malaysians proficient in Tamil , there are many of them around good meaning professionals who should  get involved to educate the community. Join the ranks of the opposition, not for the sake of seats,  but to work with the parties to make Malaysia a better place for all of us and bring the realisation to the Indians that they  have  to dance to a different music, be more Malaysian and less Indian, so that we will be able to realise the dream of  Wan Azizah - the Ketuanan Rakyat.