Ambiga and Irene - A case of selective bullying of Indians

The  UMNO led government is now selectively targeting Indians to demonstrate their powers and try and create a significant divide in an effort to force Malay unity, it has always been the cornerstone of UMNO to  portray a race as the bogeyman and then try and get the rest to unite under their radical racialist  banner so that they can win elections, rule the nation and rob the rakyat.

The selection of Ambiga and Irene are significant cases, why use the sedition act against Irene and not against Ibrahim Ali?

The reason is so obvious Irene does not serve their purpose, Irene makes things rather difficult for them, in fact extremely difficult, it is hard to face the truth and when faced by the truth, this UMNO led politicians just can't accept it.

How can they anyway? When UMNO  thrives on cheating, cheats are always against the truth so Irene is seen as sabotaging their cheating activities and that is what it is all about with almost everyone who points out their wrongdoings even people in their own camp and Ong Tee Keat is a classic example.

On the other hand Ibrahim Ali is serves their purpose he does just what they want, he is the main driver of the  so called, "Ketuanan Melayu" which is actually, "Ketuanan Umnoputra."

With Ambiga it is because she is an Indian as well, if they  take on the Malays leaders and supporters or berish they will face the wrath of all the Malays, and they are already threatened by loss of Malay support, the pen they say is mightier than the sword, so to take on Pa Samad will be political suicide, he is respected by aqll quarters of Malays his literary works are respected by the whole cross section of Malaysians, he is an icon of pride to the Malays, and none of the present day living UMNO leaders can match him in that depratment.

Having said that I am not saying they should take on  the Malay leaders of Bersih, they have no case  against these people, again here it is a case of feeling terribly uncomfortable with the  exposition of  the truth, so to make an example to stifle any further revelations from any party  they pick on Ambiga  and Irene both Indians, because they know that neither the MIC or the HINDRAF will dare raise the issue, these tow parties are literally fed by UMNO and let me now go into the details.

MIC of course as we all have known for a very long time works under the direction of UMNO, it has no voice, no voice at all, if it seems to have a voice it is UMNO's voice echoed by Indian men who are supposedly Indian leaders clad in White Vaishtees who claim to represent the Indians.

In the case of HINDRAF we have to dig a little further to understand the issue.

Everyone knew that Samy's days were coming to an end, every Indian also knew that whoever succeeds Samy would come from the MIC aqnd he would literally be nominated and elected by Samy, that was the extent of Samy Veloo's control on MIC.

Anyone else hoping to take control of the Indians via MIC had sub zero chances, and that is no exaggeration
so the best way to do it was to demonstrate to the government that they indeed had the support if the Indians in the country, and that is what set the HINDRAF machinery into action.

In the pipe dream was a plan to push Samy and his supporter aside and fill that vacuum with  their ranks.
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HINDRAF was responsible in a very big way for the poor showing by the BN at the last elections, it exposed Badawi, it made many people believe  that the Indians were the only marginalised community in this country without even realizing that the real natives who are termed "Bumiputra" were more marginalised then the Indians.

Look at the natives of East Malaysia, look at the Senoi, the Orang Laut and the rest they are significantly marginalized and when you compare them with the Indians no one can really and honestly claim that the Indians are marginalised in this country, that there are segments of Indians who are marginalised is true but this marginalisation is due to the Indians themselves and their representation in the Barisan Nasional.

Look at rural Malays in Kelantan, Kedah and many other states who choose to differ with this government and you'll see the Malay marginalised as well.

In ratio of population if one were to consider professionals in Malaysian societym  the Indians are equal if not better off than all the the other races, look at the doctors, engineers, lawyers, CEO's of Companies Indians stand out.

There are pressing needs in this community that no can cares a damn about, Tamil schools being the most glaring of all, it is  the cradle of Indian marginalisation,  and who is it that wants it there?

I have dealt enough with this topic on this blog, I'll not go into the details, except to ask if HINDRAF or MIC has the ability to turn at least fifty percent of the Tamil Schools into independent schools going up to upper secondary level like the Chinese schools.

Are there sufficient Tamils in this country willing to walk the talk?

That is not the solution anyway, it will only breed division amongst the races closing the schools down will be the best option, concentrating on teaching Tamil in regular schools will be the best option for the Tamils who feel so much about the language.

The Tamils in this country must realise that the sooner they become more Malaysian and less Tamil the better it will be for them and the nation as a whole.

Najib has read the HINDRAF plan,he very well coudl have been behindthe plan all this while, now he  is wooing HINDRAF, as soon as its members applied to register a political party it was registered, the 'Makal Sakthy Party," dubbed by it's leadership as the, "only Indian based multiracial party," it was apporved.

Indian based "multiracial party?

Today with that registration of  the Makal Sakthy party, parliamentary seats are the objective of the party.

HINDRAF's  big plan to get the British to compensate the children of Indian indentured labourers one million ringgit per head as long been cast aside, that was the magic that brought the Indians to HINDRAF, it has served it's purpose, the leadership has won the confidence of that sector of Indians and now they are using it for the political mileage - using that support to blackmail Pakatan into political suicide by demanding Parliamentary seats.

To get into favour of UMNO and the BN they are now being used by Najib as the spoiler for the Pakaktan vote, this excercise is clearly a BN strategy, as the HINDRA leadership calls on Anwar to meet  the Indians to demand seats.

Their demand of seats not one or two but much more that 10 from Anwar is a clear indication of their intent- sabotage.

How do they expect to win on the ticket of an "Indian" party? There is not one single constituency in the entire country with an Indian majority and at the last elections the number of Indians who secured both Parliamentary and state seats in Parliament set a record since Independence, not because they were Indians but because they were Malaysians, they stood on as members of multiracial parties.

Whilst the Pakatan is talking about a multiracial platform the HINDRAF pretending to align itself with the Pakatan is coming in on  a racial platform, they should not be welcome.

Now leaving all that aside these champions of Indian marginalization have been very quiet in the wake of what has happened to Ambiga, and the selling of Beef burgers at her doorstep, the Police tacitly supported this act of intimidation so too did the Prime Minsiter  by his very silence.

The Kuala Lumpur CID chief's statement that Irene Fernandez may be probed under the  Sedition Act, when everything else said by the likes of Ibrahim Ali, and even others in government that could have easily fallen under this category when unnoticed proves this selective intimidation and bullying of Indians by the Police and the government.

There is selective  Indian bashing practiced by UMNO and that is no joke and almost every Indian in politics today knows that, but what happened to the the two parties who are supposed to represent the Indians.

Would UMNO have been quiet if  Indian's went in front of Najib's house and started preparing hamburgers? Incidentally "ham" is pork? 

 

Muhyiddin in pact with old foe

 POWER STRUGGLE - UMNO IN TROUBLE?

UMNO sources tell me that Muhyiddin Yasin has struck a deal with his old foe and ex Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib aka Mike Tyson.

In the new equation Muhammad will throw his support behind Muhyiddin to ensure that Selangor does not cross over to the BN in the next elections.

That loss of the state for the second time will be attributed to Najib's poor leadership, and the Shah Alam and Klang Hospitals will be at the centre of the whole issue.

The state of the Klang Hospital and the reluctance of the Ministry of Health and the Central Government to step in to provide the funds and take all remedial action to ensure the hospital in Klang is upgraded as recommended by the Hospitals authorities, and the stalled Shah Alam Hospital is completed as soon as possible to ease the terrible congestion in Klang GH , will be the  central issues in exposing  Najib's inability to deal with big fish to  put things right.

All information towards this end is being fed to PAS, PKR and the DAP by supporters of the two men. Muhammad in the meantime is marshaling his resources by gathering his supporters in Selangor UMNO to join him in this quest.

This will leave a huge opportunity  for Muhammad to come back for the position of Deputy at the next UMNO General Assembly and most probably take on Hishamuddin Hussein whilst Muhyiddin will remove Najib or "very reluctantly stand against Najib."

In the process Muhyiddin will endorse Muhammad as his running mate.

The gap in UMNO and the distrust amongst the leadership is getting wider. Whilst Sharizat has been given a lot of assurances from Najib, she is still wondering if this is only for him to buy time as other UMNO sources tell her she is to be sidelined at the next elections, she has become too big a baggage for Najib who is now fighting for political survival.

Whislt Najib is trying his best to assure the Indian and Chinese voters that he is making changes for the better, "others" and it is not very clear who these "others" are, are doing everything to destroy Najib's credibility, and making him look bad in the eyes of both UMNO and the non Malays whose support he is desperately trying to garner.

The recent attack on members of a Hindu organisation who were to attend an ABU (anything but UMNO) meeting is said to have been arranged by persons who want Najib out.

In an immediate response, to try and mend the fences Najib came out with a statement asking Tamil educationist to come out with a blueprint on how to take Tamil schools forward. That is all there is to it, it is yet another government blueprint, a blueprint that will be left somewhere in the PM's files when ulterior motives are met.

Najib seems to be staying clear off Mahathir Mohammed as the Proton issue hots up, and as the ex PM is tryign to "guide" him on how to deal with Sharizat, after all Sharizat is his (Mahathir's) protege, and has now fallen out of favour and is  a nuisance to Najib's future plans.

The fall of Selangor is a foregone conclusion, it is said that some of the strongest BN seats are now very shakey, the Malays are fed up and with so much at stake, FELDA, corruption - which they now can see clearly took away funds that were supposed to uplift them and instead landed in the pockets of a few elite in UMNO.

If you go down to the ground and listen there is this talk of   a huge PETRONAS scandal that is said to have placed billions in the pockets of one or at most two people. These  billions will not  be detected by any audit because it involves an oil field which no longer belongs to us,  and the people of Sarawak are left empty because of this. How true this is, only time will tell. This talk has taken huge proportions in Selangor and it is reported that the news comes from within UMNO.

The PKR coalition are working overtime I am told to uncover this story, it has a lot to do with Najib's ascendency to power that is all we managed to get. If there is a story and it is true, then the East will fall at the next General Elections.

There are scandals galore, the Scorpene issue will be surfaced with the whispers in UMNO getting louder by the day by the opposing factions  it is not the opposition that is using it now it is the rival UMNO factions,  why even now Sharizat supporters are askign what's so big about "Cowgate" when Scorpene was bigger, if Najib  could cover that  and why can't he  cover this up as well.

Whilst Najib is in dire straits the ex PM - Mahathir Mohammed  is wondering where he should park his son Mukhriz' interests, if you notice Mukhriz has been rather quiet, very quiet for anyone's liking, there is trouble brewing in the party, he has ambitions, his father has plans to nuture that ambition but where he parks himself in this controversy and this power struggle in UMNO will determine his future in the party and both him and his father know that and are worried sick on how to solve this power equation.

Muhyddin has no place in the equation and he knows it, Mahathir never liked the fellow anyway, his position as Deputy was because Mahathir decided to place him there and back him and even threaten Najib that Muhyddin  would be President if Najib did not go for Badawi.

Once Najib took the position the young guard had moved in, it was time to begin the process of growing Mukhriz, a few stop gap personalities had to be put in place and the first  was Muhyddin of course who would play a Ghaffar Baba type role, then Hishamuddin would come in to unseat him  and Mukhriz would move for the Vice President's slot as a measure towards Presidency.

Najib would be asked to make way for Hisham or face the possibility of an investigation and probable sacking by the opening of the Altantya Sharibu scandal, the Port Dickson khalwat case and a lot more of which Mahathir has a  complete dossier will be used as threats  to get Najib out.

Once Najib moves aside Hisham will take over and appoint Mukhriz his deputy just like Hussein Onn did Mahathir, and the stage will set for Mukhriz to close the curtain on Hishamuddin and take over the PM's post.

If anyone for a moment thought UMNO was united they can  forget it.

The United Malays National Organsiation is no more, it has long gone,  it was deemed illegal and was closed down by the court.

The present day UMNO is not the UMNO of old it is UMNO  Baru.

UMNO Bary is far from being Malay anymore, and it is far from united.

THE IDEA BEHIND THE IDEA

Image by Stuck in Customs via Flickr

By Howl Pillay

Bumiputra. From the Sanskrit--Bumi (Earth,Land) and Putra (Sons, Inheritors). Give us any Malay word and we can easily trace its roots to Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, English, Portuguese and Spanish.

But tracing the origin of words does not tell us  why and how certain words and terms came into use in a particular way. Why did the Malays choose “Bumiputra” to express a political idea, an idee fixe and an ideology ? Does the word  “Bumiputra” unconsciously express an aspect of culture, a past or even a suppressed  ‘race memory’ ? Here are some possible answers  to these questions.

There is no more fascinating history  than the history of South East Asia. It beats me why this history is not compulsory reading in our schools. Perhaps it is because education here has a strong political agenda. It remains a tool to propagate and perpetuate political and economic policies of the government. What a pity! And what else is “Interlok” all about ? What a shame! But those who have read South East Asian history know that its treasures are numerous!

So much of this history is turbulent-- waves of migration, wars, conquests, subjugation, depopulation, under-development, colonialism, cultural hegemonism and  economic domination. But make no mistake. South East Asia has a real and formidable indigenous history. There is no finer example than the magnificent civilization of the Khmers centred around the fertile flood plain of the Tonle Sap lake, the Siem Reap River and the mighty Mekong River. These three distinct but interconnected  water systems act as a huge natural hydraulic mechanism that stores and discharges live-giving waters in abundance for wet rice cultivation.

The Khmers worked their sophisticated, stunning and splendrous magic here for close to half a millennium. From the eighth to the thirteenth century the Khmer civilization with Angkor Wat as the pinnacle of her agricultural,  artistic and architectural achievements was the Rome of South East Asia. No other civilization came close. Even the Bumiputra hero, Mahathir Mohamad  found it hard to resist the form, grace and beauty of Khmer architecture-- the Petronas Twin Towers reflects  the architecture of Angkor Wat, the jewel in the crown of all the temples in the Angkor complex.

I had the pleasure and privilege of travelling to Angkor and Kampuchea on many occasions. Both her ancient and modern history ( Pol Pot and Co ) had always and still fascinates me. I had over the years read books, articles and features on the Khmers-- Pierre Loti, D.G.E Hall. Chandler and Short. And then on a day, a bend in a muddy brown river, a wooden landing platform, graceful hand-made boats moored to it,  coconut palms in a cleared patch, a cluster of houses on stilts and leading away into the distance, green fields of rice paddies, brown faces, sarongs and loosely tied headgear. They called it Kompong Snang or something. “My God! I have been here before!”, I said to myself. It could be anywhere in Malaysia but perhaps more so in the east coast. Kelantan or Trengganu.

And here just like in a Malay kampong the welfare of the community was more important than the achievements of an individual. For  without communal work wet rice cultivation was doomed to fail. In ancient Angkorian  society the division was even more pronounced between those who grew the rice and those who did not. In these Kompongs  there were no kings, no nobles, no high officials. But everyone here shared an ambition-- to be “rescued from the mud” and become an elite of sorts. Few succeeded. Perhaps a tenth of the toiling masses. They became the clerks, artisans, master craftsmen, artists, dancers, concubines, high officials of state and priests together with favoured royal servants, their relatives and soldiers of a sophisticated civilization.

In this equivalent of Rome, the center of a veritable South East Asian Empire, as in pre-Islamic Malaya, ancestor worship was the glue that kept communities, clans and families together. This ancestor worship was markedly different from the ancestor worship of the Chinese centred on strict rules of naming newborns, maintaining surnames  and of keeping genealogical records. Since genealogies were not maintained, all the ancestors were collectively termed in Khmer society as “Nak Ta”. They were the symbolic ancestral spirits of all the people in a particular place who by dying in that place came to pervade and patronize the very soil of the place.

In these ancestral places, the “Nak Ta” were benign, tame and could be spoken to. And those spirits in the forests or in abandoned places were thought to be malignant and powerful. “Nak Ta” in  the form of good collective ancestral spirits were  often asked to assist and intercede. If all this sounds familiar with bomoh culture, it is one and the same. And once the believe in “Nak Ta” pervading and patronizing the very soil of a place has firmly taken root,  the continuity of habitation and continuity of sacredness of the land became the twin pillars (twin towers?) of much of South East Asian including Malay society. The “Balek Kampong” phenomenon involving millions in modern day Malaysia is an  expression of these twin pillars.

So the French are right after all! The more things change, the more they are the same! And our Bumiputra brothers ( No! not those of the new Khir Toyo type immigrant ) springing from the soil that was inhabited, pervaded and patronized by their  collective ancestral spirits, the “Nak Ta”, are reluctant to accept that many generations of Chinese and Indians now lay buried in this land. And many more will be buried here but these ancestral spirits will never be “Nak Ta-ed”.But why?

Perhaps “Nak Ta-fication” is a process similar to beatification in Catholicism-- a long, painstaking and cumbersome process which will no doubt include showing proof of a miracle or something close to it. Like showing how, as if by a miracle, Chinese and  Indian genes are changed into Malay DNA!

Till then it is comforting to know worship of ancestral spirits is alive, well and powerful. And  now we know where and how it all began!

GIVE US A REAL PARLIAMENT AND WE WILL GIVE YOU A NEW COMPLEX

Image via Wikipedia

 
by Howl Pillai


Yes that's what I said ! Give us a real Parliament and we will give you a new complex.

Unlike the detractors, I say: What better place to make a fresh start than Parliament? We can get going again when we have a real Parliament housed in a sparkling new complex!The present one, just 47 years old is a bit of a disgrace. A national embarrassment even! Its roof leaks like an old bucket and its air conditioning is as dodgy as the artful, hot-headed parliamentarians that need cooling . Things got so bad that once it was even shut down for all of two whole years. On another occasion recently, its not so hallowed grounds even doubled up as a temporary abattoir. What a shame !

And for the record,some 80% of all legislation initiated by the Executive was passed into law in this same building without any amendments.So it is entirely untrue that rubber and its allied industries, like rubber-stamping has seen its heyday. And this very building is no colonial vestige. Built in 1962/3 it then cost a modest RM16 Million. That, mind you, was in the innocent and happy pre-massivecorruption era of the sixties. Please note "massivecorruption" is now widely regarded as a single word in this country.They are inseparable. In today's terms, such a building will cost some RM200 Million,assuming an average annual inflation rate of 5%. The new complex we are informed is estimated to cost a whopping RM800 Million. We have 222 raucuous parliamentarians prone to whooping and chanting.Now that works out to  just RM4 Million per lousy, noisy and vulgar mouthpiece of the party or if you prefer political mouth organ.Mercifully, we are a forgiving nation of kindly also-rans, driven by a passion for mediocrity and with a penchant for cost overruns. So we will generously throw in the additional RM600 Million.We simply need a real parliament no matter what the cost.No expense should be spared.Give them the best.Not just a building. Give them a whole complex and be done with it! We must get it right the second time. And I know I speak for most Malaysians when I request the following strings be attached like all things in this fair land :

1)It must be free of even the slightest taint of scandal.The contract for its construction must be awarded on the basis of an open and competitive bidding tender process. This whole process must be made transparent so that even a fool can see through it.The whole tender process must be telecast live. This is more important to us than the live telecasts of the World Cup.After all the World Cup comes around our way once every 4 years whilst Parliament may never come around our way!

2)One of the first things we want within the new complex is a world class 'animal testing' facility.It would be hard for any MP to object.The Lower Chamber has repeatedly echoed with cries of "Binatang", "Babi","Lembu" and "Ular".We suspect too many animals have sneaked into Parliament under disguise and cover of darkness. More scary still, we now have sufficient evidence that these animals have taken over the last vestiges of legislative power remaining in Parliament. All MPs must therefore be stringently tested on a quarterly basis and the results made public.

3)To retain the salient and defining principle of Parliament regulating its own affairs, we insist the new complex contain a modern detention centre to house all ISA detainees who are also MPs.The voices of the Rakyat's representatives must be heard in Parliament even if their bodies are incarcerated.Also one of the first acts of the real Parliament would be to pass an Act setting aside the Kamunting Detention Centre exclusively for the use of ordinary folks like writers,thinkers,poets,musicians, academics and a steadfast and principled judge or two(if there are any still left)

4)The new complex must have a well equipped branch of the National Registration Department given our MPs' propensity for quickie multiple marriages and divorces. Sudden death is also now an issue.Tell me who in this country is not tired of both bye and buy elections? An efficient branch of this Dept will go a long way towards reducing time wasting and improving MP productivity.Later we can  set some very basic KPIs for our MPs like attendance and punctuality.

5)Which brings us to the need to have a 18 hole golf course and club for MPs within the sprawling grounds of the complex.Besides helping us know where to find them in a national emergency, it will cater for their recreatinal and sporting needs.The soon to be approved sports betting business will do just fine to fill the gap although we have our reservations about gambling.Please note the Rakyat has consistently maintained that fighting to legalise things deemed 'haram' is akin to screwing for virginity even if the fight is led by a former PM.

6)We insist that both a primary and secondary school from anywhere in the Klang Valley, like Rawang for example,be transferred in toto to the new complex.MPs should be encouraged and be given incentives to send their children to these schools. This will have the singular benefit of impressing upon our Ministers and MPs the true state of our education system.The MIC must take note that the same rules will apply if they as usual request for a Tamil school within the complex.

7)We insist any one of the large supermarket chains open a store within the complex.Besides catering for the favorite past-time of some of our MPs and Ministers ,shopping can now be done locally in the comfort of the precints of Parliament.Besides it will help them know the true cost of living.They can then decide which subsidies to keep and which to remove after ensuring the selling of sugar,salt,sardines and salted fish is properly licensed. These items now form the staple diet of our working classes.As an added benefit prices of essential goods can be monitored daily by MPs and Ministers without resorting to making sense of complicated statistics,graphs and pye charts.

8)To ensure no citizen is abused unto death nor thrown out of the upper floors of buildings when 'routinely questioned' we insist a National Interrogation Centre  entirely of glass be built within the complex and within sight of Parliament.We need their urgent oversight of the police force.

9)To ensure the project is completed on time,we insist Sime Darby be pre-disqualified. Besides we want to plant the seeds of true democracy not damn it.Their resources will be stretched cleaning up Bakun Dam anyway.

10)To ensure the complex does not turn into a white elephant we insist political leaders,past or present,suffering from megalomania or variants of it be excluded from all committees entrusted with any part of the project.We have all now learnt that ego-tourism has emptied the national coffers. The fear of bankruptcy now looms large in this land.For once in a long time, no one wants to see 2020 !

11)To ensure full accountability, all members of the 1998 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee be excluded on the basis that they have yet to present the Accounts of the Games. We still do not know who got the Wealth but we know the common people picked up the tab.

12)Likewise all those involved in some dubious way or other with the disastrous PKFZ mega-project be excluded.Besides, Parliament is better known for horse trading than for advocating free trade.Witness that even selling sugar now requires a licence.The next item that will be licensed, the rumour mills say, is the humble condom. We are not surprised because only the Government has a monopoly to legitimately screw us.

13) To ensure the Rakyat is never kept in the dark nor be victimised by news blackouts, we insist TNB guarantee that power disruptions are few and far between in the new complex. Simply put, we want Parliament to be properly empowered.Above all it should not be some shady extension of the Executive.

14)Since almost any significant activity is now deemed worthy enough to set up a university for its study, we insist that a university be also set up within the premises of the new complex to cater for 'parliamentary studies'. Why should this initiative surprise anyone at all ? Have we not heard it be said so often by our erstwhile Ministers : "The matter is now before Parliament and they are studying it in detail!" We propose the to- be- set up institution of higher learning be called "University Demokrasi" or "UDemo" for short. And its motto by unanimous agreement: "OUR PARLIAMENT IS EITHER AT OUR FEET OR AT OUR THROATS"

Citizens ! Lets Demo!

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Interlok - A lesson for the Malaysian Indians

Image via Wikipedia

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.

Time for the Tamils to break loose

"The Naan Tamilan nee Tamilan attitude has to be discarded now!!!"

Yes it is time for the Tamils to break loose, break loose from the shackles of MIC and the many Indian politicians who claim to represent the "Indian Cause" including HINDRAF and it's Hindu Rights Party.

The  "Indian cause" these people talk about is in India maybe but not here and no one in this country really represents that cause for the good of the Tamils.

If there is a Tamil cause it is the cause of one individual or another who uses it and for some of the  Tamils who support him for his own cause.

The real Tamil cause in this country is to be less Tamil (Indian), and be more Malaysian.

When a Malay uses the work keling it is taboo to all Tamils, I realise the Malay will not tolerate anyone saying something about his race, it is taboo and he will not have it, the entire race will not have it.

The Malaysian Tamil has to go to other countries where Indians have gone to in similar circumstances as they were in Malaysia and see the difference.

The Trinidadian Indians are not afraid to own up to their indentured labour status, they say it with pride, because from those beginnings they evolved into a force in that country made up of Europeans, Syrians, Chinese and Africans, they play a major role in the economy and government of that country, they never looked inward they were Trinidadians first and last, they are proud of their heritage but ask them what they are and they'll say it loud, "Trinidadians."

Take a look at the South African Indian, who was subjected to apartheid rule, he does not know his roots, he'll tell you maybe Madras, he's not really sure, it does not matter anymore, because as far as he is concerned he is African. there are the Fijians, the East Africans, the Hong Kong Indian community, the communities of Indians in other parts of the world who have pride of place, they do not see themselves as Indians first,  and those who do not make it are those who'd still cling on to their roots, and if you are one such person go back, go back to India.

The Malaysian Tamil has to be more Malaysian and less Tamil, more Malaysian and he must integrate. To do so he has to shun the Tamil School that is the root of Indian marginalization, it is there plainly because it serves the interests of the Indian politician, the Samy Veloos, the Subramanaims and the Uthaykumars, without it these people have absolutely no power, it is because there are Tamil schools that issues of marginalization arise and the Indian politician thrives at the expense of the Tamil educated Indian in Malaysia.

Tamil schools in this country lack the excellence,  the underprivileged Tamil school student requires to be  pulled  out of the doldrums. It is bad enough that these children come from very difficult backgrounds, their parents most of whom do not even understand what good education is all about have hardly any time to focus on eduction as bringing food to the table for these underprivileged children is the priority.

This is the breeding ground of Indian politics, this is the advantage the Indian politician sees to enrich himself, the middle class Indian who enters the fray with a sincere intention to serve is fast side tracked with some land grant, or some other material incentive and his direction immediately changes, he gets sucked into the web of the opportunists, or he moves out and wants nothing to do with the system.

The answer lies in getting rid of Tamil schools, teach Tamil as a language in schools where there is a sizeable Tamil student population, or take Tamil language classes elsewhere if the Tamils are really keen on their children learning the language in preference to everything else, take a lesson from the Sikhs, they teach their children Punjabi.

Finish the Tamil schools, and finish the MIC and other Tamil based political parties and the Tamils will be far better off being Malaysian first and Tamil second with the "Naan Malaysian nee Malaysian" attitude.

We are on the road to a great victory!!!

MIC &MCA to nail the BN coffin.

If this BN Government thinks it has intimidated us and is winning the psychological war against the PR governments wa it had better think again.

MIC's Samy Velu sweep is a step in the right direction, it is now abundantly clear that with the little band of stooges that Samy has in the MIC he can never win, Subra's defeat is a victory for the people, all UMNO puppets need to be put in the closet, and the entire group of BN parties are nothing more then UMNO puppets. The puppet show is failing to attract the crowds it once did.

The Malays see through UMNO now, the billions made by the top UMNO brass is only enriching the UMNOPUTERAS and not the ordinary Malay. UMNO top brass are becoming billionaires at the expense of the ordinary Malay, what was supposed to be channeled to them via the NEP was stolen from right under their noses and placed in the pockets of the UMNOPUTERAS.

That will explain why the sons of Mahathir, Tun Razak, Hussein Onn and the son in law of Abdullah Badawi are still on the top part of the UMNO hierarchy, so this plunder in the name of 'Malay rights' can continue unabated, and the poor Malay told all kinds of stories about other races threatening his survival.

It is the same story with he Indians and the Chinese, UMNO has allowed the Malay to think that all Chinese are rich, and are getting richer at the expense of the Malay, and that is the furthest thing from the truth that one can imagine, the MCA tells the Chinese they'll loose all their rights and privileges unless the MCA is present in government and that too is a blatant lie, MIC of course has the biggest Champion Samy Velu who keeps the Tamils ill informed by his classic "Tamil Schools education programme,' set up by the British to propagate Indian labour, and now the tool of the MIC.

This is the reason UMNO has a big stake in the MCA game, Ong Te Kiat will expose a huge scheme to enrich MCA heads and this is not good for UMNO, the secrets of its greatest attraction in the puppet show will be made public and that will kill the entire show, so after all these years and after all the noise, the Police have got int the act of investigating the PKFZ scandal, and we know what the Malaysian Police are capable of. I am sure Detective Bala is still fresh in our minds, and we all know only too well who carried out that operation, I am told there is a movie being made in India called the, "Missing Witness," and Detective Bala has agreed to tell his story, and it is to be made with some of the great Indian and Indonesian actors and actresses. The Indians because they have got fed up with the 'Cow incident', and the Indonesians they have made no secret of their ill feelings with this UMNO led BN government.

The detective Bala story has already been written by a famous Malaysan blogger, and the script has been sent to India for editing.

Will PKFZ files go missing, will questions be left unanswered, the current investigation is not over and the Police have taken over, will evidence before the present investigators be taken away so that some MCA bigwigs of yesteryears are allowed to keep their loot. Ong Tee Kiat is an embattled MCA head, he really is and he may not last the test of time, he is not in the interest of UMNO.

The sudden twist in the temple fiasco created by UMNO men in Shah Alam whre they are now being charged is only to draw the Indian and Chinese vote in Bagan Pinang, there the total Chinese and Indian vote outnumbers the Malay vote, and to attract the entire Malay vote an outcast of UMNO is being considered, and he in turn want's his son to be nominated. Remember what I said earlier abou the children of Mahathir, Tun Razak and Hussein Onn? now at the state level we see the MBs playing the same game, its called nepotism, in Malay Umnocracy.

The current BN government has decided to only come out and whack the Pakatan Rakyat Governments black and blue and in the process ( I must agree with Samy Velu on this score) are creating all the problems for the MCA, the MIC ad the Gerakan.

Go Najib go, at the rate you are going and with idiots at the helm, a Toyol, some idiots who probably bought their law degrees, or who were given the degrees so they'd get out of England, and hold high positions in your cabinet will help our cause.

Najib Tun Razak has begun the campaign called, "UMNO self destruct," and on that score we will have to support him.

In passing Children's day is soon approaching, what on earth happened to the Pingat Hang Tuah. The medal of valor given to a Malaysian child each year recognizing him as a the "Child Hero of the year."

Hang Tuah the Chinese hero of the Malays, has suddenly disappeared, disappeared because UMNO suddenly found out he was a Chinese and that fact does not fit in its puppet show.

Toffee

Tamil Schools and marginalisation of Indians

With the advent of indentured labour from what is today known as Tamil Nadu in India by the British came the Tamil Schools in the plantations.
The schools were nothing more than nursery facilities to look after the children of the labourers.
Even in the seventies when I had a brief spell working in an estate I noticed that children of up to three classes were all placed in a single classroom, and the the next three classes in another classroom, there was effectively no learning the teacher just kept the children in the class to ensure they did not go out and run about unsupervised. That environment in itself was a breeding ground for a dull mindset.
The teachers were ill equipped, and the children hardly got anywhere with their studies, and this was not for want of trying the whole system was ill equipped, it was a vicious circle in which they were all trapped.
A cycle perpetrated by the British to ensure a continuous supply of Indian labour. Although these days the schools are more impressive, with better buildings, the teachers more qualified, the quality of teaching and learning is still backward when compared with other National and national type schools.
Today more and more Indian and Malay parents are sending their children to Chinese Schools, however hardly any child of other races go to these Tamil schools, that alone speaks about the quality of these schools.
During the time I spent working in Bangalore I noticed that there is a sizable number of Tamils in Karnataka and this is especially so in Bangalore, but I also noticed that there were no Tamil schools in Bangalore, and I asked myself this question, "why is it here in India the Tamil is not seeking to send his children to a Tamil schools, and why is it so important in Malaysia?"
I think we will all have to sit up and ask ourselves this same question.
I am of the opinion this continuation of Tamil education amongst the Tamil community here in Malaysia has similar objectives, albeit on different platforms, and this time it is not perpetrated by the British Government but by the Malaysian Government, on the insistence of the Malaysian Indian politicians.
If Tamil schools are really that important, why is it that the Indian elite shy away from these schools when it comes to educating their children?
Yes! some children in Tamil schools make the cut, most of these, are children of Tamil School teachers, and others the very few who make it, come from the middle class, but the great majority fail to make the cut,and this continues.
It will be good if we could have the statistics about the dropout rate of Tamil school children during their secondary education in national schools, the breakdown of the background of those who succeed in making it to the Universities, and the outcome as whole of Tamil education in Malaysia, for it is here that the issue of marginalization actually takes root.
The Tamil schools create Tamil students who are only comfortable in the surroundings of Tamils, they do not mix freely with people of other races, assimilation is a huge problem, the, "I Tamalan, you Tamalan" attitude is a huge hindrance to their own progress.
Any community that is inward looking will not benefit from the progress taking place around them and this is the case with the Tamil school educated Tamil communities, those that make it are in traditional Indian businesses.
In the early nineties I was plant manager of a Company producing chocolate enrobed Candy Bars. One of the directors of that company was a Trinidadian, one *Errol Edward Mahabhir, a man of Indian origin.
One day Errol came up to me asked me this question, "hear, tell me, why is it that at every turn I make I find the cleaner is an Indian, I land in your blasted airport, (Subang at that time) and your cleaner is an Indian, in the hotel, the cleaner is an Indian, in the shopping malls the cleaners are mainly Indian, and now I come to this plant, run by an Indian plant manager, and the cleaner is an Indian, why?"
I replied, "well Errol in Malaysia it is very different, the Indians are not given to much opportunity," he cut me short immediately, he said, "s**t you maan (man) in Trinidad Tobago, we went there as indentured labour, today we are part of running that country, many of the big businesses are run by us many of the professionals Indian, no one gave a damn for us, we did it ourselves.
Take a look at Fiji, take a look at East and South Africa, take a look at England all have Indians there and they are thriving communities, so don't give me this silly excuses."
He was right, he was very right, Errol and the Trinidadians of Indian origin do not know their roots in India, they are Trinidadians first and they are very much less Indians. They eat Indian food they'll make the best parathas, they will make tandoori chicken, they cook good dhall and dhall purees, they have Hindu Temples in Trinidad but they are more Trinidadian and less Indian.
My immediate superior in the Company Rudy Bowman who is still here in Malaysia once looked at me and asked me what nonsense I was speaking when I told him I am a Malaysian Indian, he really thought I was stupid to tell him that, and I know he still feels that way and I am beginning to see his point of view. He'd ask, "hey tell me how can you be Malaysian and Indian at the same time, you are one or the other, that's how it is period, no such stupid thing as 'Malaysian Indian' - huh."
Our ability to assimilate is nurtured from the time we are young, we are trained into our adulthood and if we are trained right from childhood to remain and be comfortable with only a certain group that is actually how we turn out in the end.
In plural societies like ours, and in the modern world where integration, assimilation and networking is what determines our ability to mix with others and move ahead, the children of Tamil Schools will find it hard to assimilate, will eventually be marginalised and that is not anyone's doing but a result of their inability to assimilate.
These children always feel left out in non vernacular schools where they go to for their secondary education, where the drop out rates among them are especially high, and eventually they get sidelined and as a result marginalised.
Who benefits from such ignorant masses? Politicians of course, they can tell these people all kinds of tales, they can twist and turn issues, they make these poor folk believe that they must stay united as Tamils or they will loose their language, their culture and their identity, and that the only people who can give it to them are these glorified politicians, who even if they send their children to Tamil schools have the financial means to fortify this with home tuition and later send them to elite schools for further education.
Tamil schools keep these politicians in place, ensure their survival, and to really get rid of Tamil schools is a "sensitive issue" to them and it is time we know why.
To all if not most Indian political parties it is their backbone, it is their never ending platform for continuous supply of supporters, to the Barisan it will keep intact racial politics, so why not?
To the Indians who send their children to these schools unwittingly, it is the scourge that causes marginalisation.
If the Tamils are really keen on culture and language they should take a lesson form the Sikh community.


Toffee

*Errol Edward Mahabhir was at various times, Minister of Labour, Minister of finance and Minster of Industry and commerce of Trinidad and Tobago and he told me they did not have or go to any Indian medium school in that country, I forgot to ask him if there were any.