A letter from a Malaysian Indian
Who is HINDRAF? Why HINDRAF? Do we need HINDRAF and if so what can they do or at least what have they accomplished?.....
Their struggle? Well, I believe HINDRAF initially focused only on championing Hindu Temples, hence its name - HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force), which in itself sounds more like a religious group...or are they really?
So, why is HINDRAF now talking about the community?
Their struggles seem to have swayed from the temple issue to other things beyond their boundaries. This would include what they alleged as the 'marginalization' by the Government based on selective feedbacks from Malaysian Indians.
It was indeed a difficult task to grab the attention of the Indians in the past as they mostly kept to themselves. But then thanks and no thanks to HINDRAF, they have managed to overcome this by using Hindu temples. The championing of Hindu temples had generated overwhelming support from almost every Malaysian Indian...
Well, they guessed the Government managed to screw big time this time, but then again, why would the Government use all their efforts to marginalise and supress Malaysian Indians?
Every level-headed Malaysian knows that the Indian community has never been a threat to racial harmony. They are peace-loving and get along well with all the other races. So, how can this small community can even be seen as a threat to the Government, which also represents the majority racial groups?
The marginalisation is well over exaggerated.
And talking about marginalization alone is not enough, since we have to first study the reasons.
If the claim is solid and real, only then we can shout anti-government slogans till the cows come home (no pun intended). However, sadly, many Indians in Malaysia fail to understand what they are fighting for. By just shouting Makkal Sakhti to rouse the sentiments and instigate the simple-minded folks from the under-privilged pockets of the community, the leaders and creme-de-la-creme of HINDRAF who mostly belong to the upper crust of the wealthier spectrum of society easily USED them to serve their selfish ends.
And so the simpletons that form the mass of their traget group would pour by the thousands into the streets to hype about that drop in the ocean, which the powers that be in HINDRAF claim to be gross injustice in Malaysia.
HINDU TEMPLE DEMOLITION :
Does the Indian community realise the number of Hindu temples in Malaysia?
In Selangor's Puchong area there are about 10 Hindu temples within a 10 km radius, and each temple is visited by at least between 10-15 devotees while on Fridays the number would be between 50-100.
Think about this: Who really run these temples? Government or the Hindu Sangam? Well maybe two or three are registered with the Hindu Sangam and sadly most of other temples perform unapproved rituals such as animal scarification regularly. For the record, such rituals divert from real Hinduism practice.
Many of the temples are run by individuals who benefit from donation alone and this is probably their motive. They use bogus priests to perform countless mind blowing rituals. Such practices tend to push Indian community backwards. It is definitely not a healthy development for sure...
I use to follow such belief but soon realised the type of regressive mentality I have developed from it. Well, I just don't believe that any human posses the power to communicate directly with God and here we have a mediator who after being possesed by what is claimed to be Divine Spirit, would talk and advise humans.
A real Hindu would never endorse such belief and I am sad that the Malaysian Hindu Sangam is not asserting itself over this matter. Consider that the act of alcohol abuse and animal sacrification are not allowed in India's temples, while here in Malaysia such things are being practiced widely. So do I really bother if such temples are torned down? Hell, not at all...
And as for temples with ethical practises? Many are not registered and even worse, they are built around properties belonging to other people. Ok, as a Hindu maybe I can allow such temple on my land but how if I'm not?
Let me put it this way, I am a Hindu and I got piece of prime land which I bought from a oil palm estate 10 years ago. There is one surau, which had been built since about 100 years ago to cater for the Malay estate workers (yes, they were lots of estate workers who were Malays). Now, since I'm just a Hindu, do I really care about the Muslim surau which is blocking my dream to build commercial buildings? How about my rights? Of course, by law, I am entitled to issue an evacuation notice, but then again...come to think of it, it is a surau.
Ok, then the Government allocates another piece of land along with funds to build another surau elsewhere. Of course I believe this is the best solution and by right why don't we thank the Government for that? And before doing so, of course it would study the ethnic population density and base on the results build one or two mosques instead of 10 small suraus scattered all over. So, what if the said surau is over 100 years old? People progress and in place of the delapidated surau the community would have a spanking new mosque to provide better unity among the faithfuls.
Based on this, it is very clear certain quarters are ripping-off the Indian community and to ensure their sustenance they have provoked such issues into racial ones and have the Government seen as the scapegoat.
INDIAN DETAINEES DEATH UNDER POLICE CUSTODY/ETHIC CLEANSING.
Many died there and we all know how they died.
Now, do we believe that the police will just drag any criminals and execute them in lock-ups or shoot them down on the streets just for fun or as vengeance against a certain race?
I don't think so. The same police never for once threatened my life . I am a Malaysian Indian and let me say this. Yes, you can shout or hurl any abusive language at me but please listen ...
Do you realise the number of Malaysian Indians killed by Malaysian Indian gangsters stand many folds higher than the death toll of Indians in police lock-ups? Yes, thats right, violent murders, brutal rapes, beatings, extortion, intimidation and other gory crimes by our very own race are statistics that warrant to be seen and believed. I strongly believe these thugs kill more Malaysian Indians every year...
A big number of Malaysian Indian families have a history of murdered or maimed relatives, who were victims of ruthless Indian thugs. And many fell victim over small and petty matters like staring at each other either accidently and such. Ok, let me ask you this. Can an Indian family with a 16 year old girl walk peacefully among 100 Indians youths during Thaipusam celebration? I am sure many went through the horrifying experience of excessive vulgar comments and even worse the girl abused physically infront her very own male family members. Yes, by our very own Indian youths.
Mind you, this is not a joke or made up story. I saw how a group of Indian youths whacked young girl's buttocks in front her father and brothers. And can you imagine what would happen if her father or siblings interfered? Well, I'm sure you know the answer. All this happened during the holy Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves in 2007.
Ok, let me now ask you. Can the same family walk peacefully between 100 Malay and Chinese youths? Yes, they can.
I'm not in the mood to degrade my own race but this is a fact. The majority of Indian youths lack moral values and hardly bother to respect others if they are in a big group. The real issue is their attitude.
Ok, one can always claim because of poverty and what not. But then what has all that got to do with moral values? I have seen orphans growing into good citizens and some street children having better inner values.
About Kampung Medan. I have lived among hundreds of Malays in a kampung in Masai, Johor and not for once through the years had I encountered problems with them. We lived together in the rural community as one big family. Not one funeral or wedding went by without each of us putting together our efforts. The whole kampung got together and we helped each and other. We lived in a real Malaysian spirit of neighborliness.
It boggles my mind to fathom why a race is bent on killing another in Malaysia. If this is indeed true, why are we Indians still in Malaysia? Why do Indians still freely roam around Malay kampungs and live among Malays? And also, if it is true that ethnic cleansing really occured, why should we stay among Malay communities?
Lets get real. This really is an isolated tragedy due to a prolong misunderstanding among Kg. Medan residents for years. This is what happens if minorities fail to respect majority sentiments and in this case, some Indian gangsters in Kg. Medan created unhealthy living environment with rampant criminal activities for a very long period. No one can deny, not even we Indians. Those scum-of-the-earth who were the thugs had failed to respect Malay sentiments and they went too far and pushed too far.
In the past I myself was afraid to enter Kg. Medan. The same feeling was shared by my university mate who had lived there before he moved out a year before the tradegy.
The burden is heavier if you have young girls in your family. Even Malaysian Indians were terrified of the Indian thugs in the area. I studied in UM during the time of the Kg. Medan incident and stayed in Kg. Kerinchi (almost 98% Malays). Throughout my stay, never once I felt afraid intimidated. I went about my life unimpeded and undisturbed. I regularly went for supper at the Malay stalls in the wee hours of the Kg. Medan 'tragedy.' Well, if you label this tragedy as a full scale ethnic cleansing, why am I still alive?
Why didn't the police prosecute anyone from Kg.Medan? How many Kg. Medan residents have to be prosecuted and and who can be hauled in? Will such a measure cool down the tense situation? The best government can do is to learn take a lesson from the incident and try to avoid a recurrence.
Of course poverty and bad living conditions can be attributed to the incident in some ways. And yes, we can blame the BN government but still don't you think only poverty can be blamed here? How about additude? I believe, the best is to avoid and try not to allow anything tha can lead to an incident. We learn from mistakes (I hope). We can start by strengthening national unity and of course improve our minset and fortify our moral values. Just avoid that attitude problem and I really hope Indian youths can eliminate gangsterism as their culture and way of life.
Conclusion
As Indian, try to understand ourselves and learn from our mistakes. We are not perfect and please do not blame others for what is happening around us.
There is no point demanding government aid and complaining about the lack of opportunities in education, economy and political rights through street demonstrations. Incidentally, in the same vein, if you talk only about the government, how about the Malaysian Chinese owned private companies? Do you think it is easy for a Malaysian Indian to work there?
I was employed as regional sales manager in one Malaysian Chinese dominated multinational company and I was earning half of my Malaysian Chinese counterpart. Consider: a Chinese did the same job and that i did. I handled 10 countries and he just handled five countries. I helped generate more sales than him by a few million and I was still at the lower level.
Apologies to my Chinese friends. I don't mean to condemn anyone here but this is the result of our government's policies and insufficient labour enforcement to crack down on such irresponsible act by employers.
No employer dares to advertise job vacancies indicating preference only for Chinese in United States. I am sure I will get due justice and teach my former employer a good lesson if this had happened in the US.
Now, do you think Indians should fight the government and Chinese employers for their rights too? See, the list will never end if we point fingers at others.
I as a Malaysian Indian would love to see HINDRAF supporters drop their racist stance and work towards the betterment of our community.
