By Wong Mun Chee
The Malaysian Indian, though they stand as a minority, have enormous substance of morality and humanity intact within them. They don’t sell their soul like the Chinese and Malay MPs that took place in Perak for monetary gains against the Pakatan group. I make this point because lately there seems to be a lot of criticisms against the Malaysian Indians for the stand they have taken amongst fellow Malaysians.
You may say anything about an Indian, but loyalty is the credence that they have held steadfast within this multicultural society whether the Malaysian Indian is a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or even an atheist.
To date until GE12, the Malaysian Indians have been silenced for their obeisance for the rule of law and what is good for the society as a whole. After GE12, and bearing the latest Bagan Pinang results, they are branded and labeled as scapegoats. They are never the unsung champions for the upheaval that had taken Malaysian society by storm during the GE12.
The Malaysian Indians are a susceptible society to the policies and law of the land that all Malaysians take for granted even if it is discriminative. However, they have proven through HINDRAF that they are not that susceptible anymore although everyone still tries to take them for a ride and belittle them.
Yes, it is a minority community. But conscience and awareness have awakened them that the other societies cannot continue to take advantage of them just because they have been too accommodating all these years to maintain tranquility.
Naturally, you have MIC and the all those who claim to represent Malaysian Indians for the ruling government. Yet they all lost in the GE12. For those Pakatan representatives for the Indians, the crack is beginning to show. This shows that the Malaysian Indians, after the awakening by HINDRAF, have a mind of their own that is dictated on equal terms with other Malaysians and cannot be bullied any longer.
For the Malaysian Indians, there is a moral dimension more than the others. How can everyone sit and watch in silence when the Malaysian Indians are persecuted, shot at sight, and branded with the highest stateless figures, crime figures and suicidal figures when they are just a minority. Nowhere in the world have the Indians deteriorated through such discriminative policies except in Malaysia.
It is a systematically engineered policy to create an underclassed society without any opportunity to participate in the development of the country on par with the others. As a minority, their leaders under the ruling administration had suppressed them and obtained their silence with false hopes. With the change after GE12, the Malaysian Indians hoped that things would get better but nonetheless they were again treated in a similar fashion as seen in Kg Buah Pala - a minority with nothing much to offer.
Naturally the faults of the system, whether it is BN/PR, harnesses this because the rest of the majority will sit down and pass judgement on this community whenever it is not favourable to their parties even when the Malaysian Indians are only seeking for fairness.
Being a Malaysian and as a fundamental point of orientation, I have to grasp firmly that the truth is, for most Malaysians, they continue to look down on the Malaysian Indian whenever possible.
The Malaysian Indians, originally indentured labourers, were also pioneers in the fields of finance, legal, education, medical, real estate and the civil administration during the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. For a minority, they have done their fair bit for the development of the nation and yet we Malaysians still look down on them as an underclassed society. What has happened in the past is not going to change, but we as Malaysians must understand their position today and support them to reach parity with us.
My morality would suffer if I cannot or fail to recognize their predicament and I should not blame them if they have to fight their cause in whichever way possible to uplift their society.
