Hindraf 2nd year commemmoration

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

MARGINALIZATION OF THE INDIANS AN ACCOUNTING OF HOW THIS HAS HAPPENED

ECONOMIC MARGINALISATION

Through these columns I intend to present a picture of the marginalization of the Indian poor in Malaysia and also try and put forth a coherent explanation of…

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ECONOMIC MARGINALISATION

Through these columns I intend to present a picture of the marginalization of the Indian poor in Malaysia and also try and put forth a coherent explanation of how it happened. I am going to do this in several parts. Part One was published a week ago. Here is Part Two. In this part I am going to lay out a picture of the phenomenon of the Economic Marginalization of the Indian poor.

The story of Mariappen

Let me narrate the story of Mariappen to you to illustrate how all of this works . Mariappen now 32 years old ( born in 1977) is married, lives in Kulim with his wife, Pechai and 3 young sons. He ran away from home when he was eleven, rebelling aginst a drunken father and a miserable life in the estate. He lived a life between being a runaway child, an inmate of a juvenile home, and a prisoner a few times over. He says he cannot remember how many times he has been in and out of the home and prison or how many years he has spent thus.

His father, Subramaniam was born in 1928 in the estates, grew up and worked first in one Estate in Sungei Bakap, then after that estate was sold worked in another called the Merah estate and finally in a Coffee estate, all in the Kedah region. His father was a daily paid worker for most of his life. Mariappen was the last of his16 children – boys and girls. All of them are now deceased except for Mariappen. I asked him how come, because his siblings would be in their forties and fifties, had they been alive, and were too young to be all deceased.. He said this happened for various reasons, but several of them died due to drinking, including his father. Alcoholism has been a major scourge to this family, like I suspect to many other marginalized families. Marginalization leads to alcoholism, which leads to short and unproductive lives. Condoning this process of marginalization has an effect of reducing the population of such poor. When such condoning happens with impunity, it is probably intentional.

Mariappan now works as an odd job laborer, whenever he can find a job. He is totally illiterate – can do some basic arithmetic. His wife, also illiterate works occasionally as a cleaner in a restaurant. He and his wife do not have ICs , his 3 children have no birth certificates. He and his wife therefore cannot find legitimate jobs. They do not effectively exist under the law. His marriage to his wife is not registered. Two of his children are attending a nearby Tamil school, two out of about twenty children without birth certificates in that school. Every Tamil school in the country has several children with this problem, from what I have seen. He and his wife have frequent violent fights, in the house, mostly over money and often when he is drunk. They live in a rented house in the fringes of Kulim, struggling through their lives every single day in this manner. They barely exist…. Also, imagine what all this will translate to when his children became teenagers or young adults. I asked him this question. Of course his answer was that they would likely turn out to be the same, now times three. See how the problem multiplies. That is exactly what has been going on to the problem over these 50 plus years.

The key factors in the economy which initiated the marginalization process

That his life became like this is not an accident of history. It was a natural outcome of what was happening in the economics and politics of this country. Let me share some data to show how this was happening on a National scale. The data clearly shows how the Indian Population distribution changed from being primarily in the Estates to being primarily in the towns and cities:

%	1970	2004
Urban	25.5	81.2
Rural	74.5	18.8

Source: Dept of Statistics, Government of Malaysia Census report 1991-2000, 9^th Malaysia Plan 2006

From 75 % rural to 80% urban. From the estate shanties to the urban squatter homes.

This shift occurred because of a few key things that were taking place in the economy:

1) Large rubber plantations run by the British in the early years after independence, were being broken up into smaller estates as the large British companies left Malaysia.

2) Plantations were shifting production to palm oil from rubber because of the higher returns for palm oil than for rubber.

3) The plantation companies in collusion with the Government allowed in foreign workers, both legal as well as illegal to man the oil palm plantations both depressing the earnings of the Indian workers as well as reducing the number of jobs available to the Indian workers.

According to a recent report there are 2.1 million foreign workers in the country (Source: Dept of Statistics, Government of Malaysia Census report)

4) Land was being taken up for industrial, commercial and residential development as the economy expanded. So many estates just turned to property development from production of rubber or palm oil.

The Indian marginalization problemwas ignored as a matter of policy

That this displacement was happening was no surprise to the policy makers. The policy makers just ignored it. The Indian Political representatives in the MIC too could not make any difference to the outcomes. They were impotent by virtue of their self serving relationship with the UMNO elite. This problem effectively was not national priority. The UMNO led Government of the period did not provide anything to address this problem. They could have taken measures such as:

a) Compensation for loss of the estate homes and the secondary incomes from small scale breeding or small scale agriculture.

b) Alternative housing in the urban areas, for those forced to move out from the estates because of factors beyond their control

c) Provision of land through agencies such as FELDA, FELCRA, PERDA, KEDA, KEJORA and such other development agencies of the Government.

d) Providing support to become self employed

e) Retraining into new skill areas

f) Social support schemes, to help in the transition

The Alliance government of that period and the BN government of today, led by UMNO, just washed its hands off the problem. The MIC that was supposed to safeguard the Indian interest reneged on its historical role and at best only looked after the interest of the few among the Indian elite. They could not stop the fragmentation process. Instead as with so many other problems afflicting Indians they started a self help program - the National Land Finance Co-operative Society (NLFCS) with false promises of a solution to the problem of displacement and riches to come for the poor. The likes of this never could touch Subramaniam, the father of Mariappan.

To continue with my story, nothing resulted from all of that for Mariappan’s family. Subramaniam, Mariappan’s father did not get any compensation when the first estate was sold and he had to move out. They were just thrown out of their jobs and they had to go. There were no institutes to retrain them into some new trade, maybe carpentry, maybe metalworking, maybe basic wiring, maybe mechanical or electrical trades to meet the needs of the new economy. The thought of that would have been preposterous, and all kinds of arguments would have been raised against the feasibility of such programs. There was to be nothing.

Complicity between the MIC and UMNO behind the marginalization process

FELDA or FELCRA or RISDA definitely did not consider that Subramaniam was the type that they were set up for. It is all just a question of priority for the Government and Subramaniam was not their priority – that’s all. After rejection from UMNO to address the problem and not to appear impotent to do anything about this problem, the MIC set up the NLFCS. But anyway,the only ones to have really benefited from these feeble schemes set up by the MIC, are a few among the Indian elite and some of their cronies. I quote this example because it clearly was repeated time so many times and with impunity – the NESA scheme, the MIC Unit Trust Scheme, the Koperasi Pekerja Jaya company, the Maju Jaya Cooperative, the MAIKA Scheme, The AIMST and MIED funds.

UMNO got away scot free from any responsibility for uplifting the poor Indians because of this kind of complicity between the MIC and UMNO. MIC worked hand in glove with UMNO to create an illusion of grand plans for the salvation of the Indian poor. MIC was the front guy. UMNO was the mastermind behind. This is the kind of treacherous role that MIC has played and caused harm to all the Indian poor in this country, over the last fifty years. But the real culprit is UMNO.

The creation of the underclass

So, left with no support or real help, this large shift of the Indian workers to the urban centers resulted in squatter colonies mushrooming across the country in urban areas on fallow land, old mining land, on State land. These communities were bereft of their ancestral social structures which they were forced to abandon when they left their estate communities. The squatter colonies were no better. They were just basic settlements, crowded, without proper sanitation or amenities for an urban dwelling.

The migration to the urban areas further resulted in the breakdown of the social system the Indians had been living with for several generations prior. Hard earned social facilities like hospitals, dispensaries, crèches, and schools, meager as they were in the estates were abandoned. Effectively the Indian worker was cut free from all bondage and support and left entirely to fend for themselves and in the process the underclass was created.

The result is that a vast majority of them landed up as menial laborer, contract worker, unskilled factory workers, manual workers, drivers, security guards, helpers, sweepers, jaga kereta boys, cleaners, restaurant hands, gardeners and so on.

Crime and alcoholism as a direct result of marginalization

Like Mariappan many also turned to crime. The ecosystem for the turn to crime was building up. I asked Mariappan, how come he got involved in the crime like he did. His answer was that there were many friends who showed him how, and there were people to buy whatever they stole. It was easy while it lasted, he said. . The net result, 200,000 Indian youth are involved in crime, said our erstwhile Minister for Human Resources, Dr.Subramaniam recently in Parliament.

Alcoholism seems also to be common with the poor Indians, like Mariappen. It seems to suggest that this is a kind of response to the effects of the marginalization experienced by Mariappen and his like. They see very little in the form of hope. Their self image anyway is already very low. They do not see a way out. When I asked Mariappen, why he let so many administrative lapses happen in his life, like with ICs and birth certificates, his response was that even when he wants to do something, he feels he has to do everything on his own, he feels alone, abandoned. He feels a kind of hopelessness. They feel they do not belong, they feel rejected, they feel there is no more hope, so what does it matter. This is fertile psychological background for something like alcoholism to set in for the males and I suspect suicidal tendencies for the females.

In summary

The overall social and economic conditions in the urban centers created this kind of a poverty trap. This became a breeding ground for the underclass, of which Mariappen is just one example. .And most of them were living just above the Poverty Line Income established by the Economic planning Unit.

Indians form 60% of urban squatters and 41% of beggars (The Economist

22nd Feb 2003

Not every case of the marginalized will be exactly like Mariappen. But elements of what is happening in Mariappen’s life is surely present in most of the Indian poor. This is all directly a result of the shift in the economy of the country, the socio economic position of the vast majority of the Indians to start with, the utter negligence of this problem by the UMNO led Government and the complicity between them and the deceiving MIC.

In the next part I will discuss the way in which our system based on unequal rights and

opportunities catalysed and accelerated the economic marginalization process.

Naragan

UMNO cruel regime : 30 years later Indian couple gets citizenships.

UMNO cruel regime : 30 years later Indian couple gets citizenships.

The Utusan Malaysia on 4 / 12 / 09 at page 5 reports V . Saravanamuttu and V. Logeswary…

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UMNO cruel regime : 30 years later Indian couple gets citizenships.

The Utusan Malaysia on 4 / 12 / 09 at page 5 reports V . Saravanamuttu and V. Logeswary who had to wait 30 long years to be granted their Malaysian citizenship. This is despite Article 14 of the Federal Constituition stipulating ….every person born on or after Malaysia Day…are citizens by operation of law.

Imagine the pain and sufferings losing out on their prime of their lives , loss of job opportunities and promotion prospects and bussinesses and licences opportunities lost.

But after these 30 years of misery and when they are already 79 years old UMNO Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein grants them citizenship and expects this coule to be grateful to UMNO.

UMNO yet again plays the politics of ” telur sebiji telur riuh sekampung !!!! ” Hishamuddin the Home Minister makes this ” fanfare ” announcement . But what about the announcement for the remaining estimated 299 , 999 Indian children and their parents who have been denied their birth certificates (BC) and Identity Cards (IC) with Malaysian citizenship. Not a single Indian born in Malaysia should be denied their Birth certificates (BC) and Identity Cards (IC). It is the job of the UMNO controlled Malaysian Government to ensure that not a single Indian is deprieved of their BC and IC.

What do you expect when 1, 016 , 799 civil servants and others have been trained by UMNO to implement UMNO ’s racist and religious extremist agenda for example this 299 , 999 children and adults being denied their rightful IC and BC.

P. Uthayakumar

Photos: HRP Teluk Intan forum & book launch 5/12/09 .

HRP Teluk Intan forum and book launch on 5/12/09 “ Malaysian Indian Political Empowerment Strategy ”

By P.Uthayakumar

at Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman, Batu 2½, Jalan Changkat Jong, Teluk Intan, Perak.

DAP and PKR S’gor Govt :Land for Chinese temple,no to hindu temples

Not only this but the PKR and DAP led Selangor state government even (rightly) bends backwards to issue a stop work order to stop the building of houses next to this temple. (refer The Star Metro 4 / 12 / 09 page M4)

But when it comes to hindu temples in Selangor the Tuan Menteri Besar and Towkay DAP gets their Selangor Indian EXCO Mandore to dish out peanuts of RM 10 000.00 and (empty) promises of land here and land there for tamil schools, hindu temples and crematoriums. But no Selangor State government land is granted to these hindu temples and which means they can be demolished at any time as has happened even at the rate of one hindu temple being demolished in every ten (10) days during the ex MB Khir Toyo’s regime . (This statistics is as per the reply by the present MB to the ADUN for Kota Alam Shah Y.B Manoharan Malayalam early this year) .

But for this Pasir Ambang , Kuala Selangor Chinese Temple , the Tuan and Towkay gets the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) to allocate land the to this Chinese temple , How then are DAP , PKR and PAS any different from UMNO vis a vis the Indians.

P. Uthayakumar

MARGINALIZATION OF THE INDIANS -PART ONE

Through these columns I intend to present a picture of the marginalization of the Indian poor in Malaysia and also try and put forth a coherent explanation of how it happened. I am going to do this in several parts. I am doing this to break the myth that what has happened to the Indian poor in the country is inevitable. That it all happened because they lack values, they lack religion, they watch too much Astro, they are basicaly violent and such other myths as our current day theoreticians both within the community as outside the community will have us believe.

Here is the first part.

First some basic information that will help us understand the story that will be presented a little better.

Basic data of Malaysia

Population by ethnic group Malaysia, 2010

Total	Malay	Other Bumiputera	Chinese	Indian	Others
26,784,965	14,749,378	3,197,993	6,520,559	1,969,343	347,692
100%	55.1%	12%	24.3%	7.4%	1.2%

As can be seen from this data Indians form 7.4% of the total population of Malaysia in a census projection from the Department of Statistics, Government of Malaysia. The Indians are a minority group, a distinct minority group.

During the period since the Independence the per capita Gross Domestic Product ( GDP), an indicator of the economic progress and status of a country – just like your salary, rose from about RM 2500 per year in 1960 to RM15,000 in 2008. Quite a performance. The economy changed from being primarily a commodity producing & agricultural economy (like production of rubber and palm oil) to a manufacturing orientated economy. See table below:

% of GDP	1960	2008
Agriculture	40	9.7
Manufacturing	9	44.6

The Indians were largely involved in the rubber plantations as tappers in a relatively modern form of agricultural production at the inception of the nation. Though it is not food, that was produced, it was a cash crop and it was grown – so we call it agriculture. Since then there has been a tremendous shift in the structure of the economy. The plantation economy slowly gave way to an industrial economy. Factories started to replace the rubber estates as the main feature of the economy.

While this was happening Malaysian politics also went through significant change. The 4 key phases in the development of the politics are the period 1957 – 1969, 1969 – 1981. 1981 -2004, 2004 - 2008. Each of these phases is characterized by key historical phenomena that both chronicles what has happened in Malysian politics as well as explain how it all happened.

While these were occurring, the Indian population, a minority to start with, coupled with the fact that they were in the lowest rung of Malaysian society experienced significant outward push from the mainstream of all these developments –economic, political and social.

The Indians have not benefited in equal measures as the other communities in spite of the rapid economic development that the country experienced in this period. In these columns I will try to set out the various forms of the push out or marginalization that the Indian poor faced in these various phases and why this has happened. Essentailly we all know what has happened - but we know them as sporadic and separate events. What I will attempt to do is to connect all these events, join the dots so to speak, and draw a big picture for you all to see - hopefully making the truth clearer.

But first let me start with what marginalization means:

In sociology, marginalisation is the social process of becoming or being made marginal - to be sent to the fringes, out of the mainstream; or to confine to a lower social standing. make seem unimportant “the marginalization of the underclass” is a clear example. In its most extreme form, marginalization can exterminate groups.

Many communities experience marginalization. As a result of marginalization, communities have lost their land, were forced into destitute areas, lost their traditional sources of income, and were excluded from the labour market. Additionally, communities have lost their culture and values and lost their rights in society .

Today the Malaysian Indian community is marginalized from Malaysian society as a result of the development of practices, policies and programs that only meet the needs of the power elite but not the needs of the marginalized Indian poor. This marginalization is also significantly connected to the power elite maintaining and enforcing ways by which we think and talk about things. The way we have been conditioned by the information trickling to us, or by way people talk around us, we may even have difficulty acknowledging that marginalization has occurred to the Indian community in Malaysia.

This is my task, to make it very clear, what has happened and why it has happened.

The marginalization experienced by the Indians in Malaysia is multifaceted. Specifically they can be categorized into:

1) Economic marginalization

To be denied opportunities for participating productively in the economic development of the

nation. To have been pushed out of the mainstream of economic development.

2) Political marginalization

To be denied equal opportunity to participate in the decision making processes relating to

allocation of the national resource or the social and economic development of the

community. Political clout taken away by virtue of the political processes of the country. In

the process losing political rights as a citizen and as a minority community.

3) Social marginalization

To be cast aside socially as the dreg with the social stereotypes as labourers, drunks,

untrustworthy individuals, black and smelly fellows, dependent and always complaining to

name a few of the stereotypes usually associated with being Indian poor in Malaysia. The

result of all this is the blocking of the Indian poor from developing pride as worthy individuals,

and as a community of poor being denied the opportunities for practicing and developing the

salient culture of the Indians.

I will discuss each of these aspects of marginalization in the subsequent parts. I will also

discuss the sociological basis of all of this. I will try to break the stereotyped explanations

offered for the state of the Indian community and show how through the progress of the

development of Malaysian society, this outcome has occcurred. It has nothing to do with the

Indianness in all of us – as current discourse will have us believe. It has only to do with the

political economy of the country.

Keep reading.

Naragan

'Welfare home conversion': Lawyer wants proof - Malaysiakini

The lawyer of S Banggarma, who is caught in a conversion crisis, has sent a legal letter to the Welfare Department demanding that it furnish proof to substantiate its claim…

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The lawyer of S Banggarma, who is caught in a conversion crisis, has sent a legal letter to the Welfare Department demanding that it furnish proof to substantiate its claim that the housewife was converted on Nov 30, 1983 in Rompin, Pahang.

In the letter dated Nov 25, counsel Gooi Hsiao Leung urged department director-general Meme Zainal Rashid to submit to his client the alleged letter of consent given by Banggarma's parents for the alleged conversion when she was a year old.

He also demanded that his client be furnished with the court order obtained under the 1947 Juveline Courts Act to place Banggarma in Rumah Kanak Kanak Taman Bakti in Kepala Batas.

"We have also demanded all other relevant documents to substantiate the director-general's claim that Banggarma was converted by her parents, and not by the welfare home," he told Malaysiakini today.

Banggarma has claimed that she was converted unwittingly on Dec 28, 1989 by the Penang Welfare Department when she was seven and living in the welfare home.

The mother of two, whose Muslim name is Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, refuted Meme's claim that she was converted in 1983 by her natural Hindu parents, plantation worker B Subramaniam and Latchumy Ramadu.

DG's claim contains discrepancies

Meanwhile, Gooi said Meme's claim had discrepancies and contradicted the contents of the conversion certificate issued to Banggarma.

He is now preparing to file the case at the Malaysian civil courts seeking a judgment to nullify Banggarma's conversion as illegal.

He said under Article 12.4 of the Federal Constitution, a minor could only be converted to another religion with consent of the person's parents or guardian.

"This is a civil court case because it involved unconstitutional and unlawful conversion of a minor.

"This is not the case of a voluntary Muslim convert seeking to renounce Islam," he added when asked if he had to seek justice at the Syariah Court instead.

Gooi, who is also PKR Kedah Youth deputy chief, said he has also penned a letter to the welfare home seeking a meeting to discuss and explore an amicable solution to the controversy.

However, he said the welfare home had been tightlipped over the issue.

"An officer from the home told me that the case was being handled by the KL welfare office."

Gooi said he hoped the Welfare Department would save everybody's time, money and energy by observing the constitutional law and allow his client to be a Hindu rightfully and legally.

"Otherwise we will have no choice but to challenge the conversion in court," he said.

Will Queen Elizabeth II of England pay for the 150-year suffering of Indian Malaysians?

Plea for Malaysian Indians
Azly Rahman

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us…

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Plea for Malaysian Indians
Azly Rahman

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labour - not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. - Albert Einstein in ‘Why Socialism?’ (1949)
What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea. - Mohandas K Gandhi

Will Queen Elizabeth II of England pay for the 150-year suffering of Indian Malaysians? How would reparations be addressed in an age in which we are still mystified by newer forms of colonialism - the English Premier League, Malaysian Eton-clones, Oxbridge education, and British rock musicians such as the guitarist-astrophysicist Dr Brian May of the better-than-the-Beatles rock group Queen (and recently appointed chancellor of a Liverpool university)?

Who in British Malaya collaborated with the British East India company in facilitating the globalised system of indentured slavery? Will the current government now pay attention to the 50-year problems of Indian Malaysians?

We need to untangle this ideological mess and listen to the pulse of the nation. We are hyperventilating from the ills of a 50-year indentured self-designed pathological system of discriminatory servitude of the mind and body, fashioned after the style of colonialism.

We need a crash course in the history of reparation, slavery, and the declaration universal human rights. We need to understand the style of British colonialism as it collaborated with the local power elites of any colony it buried its tentacles in and sucked dry the blood, sweat and tears of the natives it dehumanised and sub-humanised.

We need to calculate how much the imperialists and the local chieftains gained from the trafficking of human labour - across time and space and throughout history.

In short, we need to educate ourselves on the anatomy, chemistry, anthropology and post-structurality of old and newer forms of imperialism. British imperialism has successfully structured a profitable system of the servitude of the body, mind and soul and has transferred this ideology onto the natives wishing to be “more British than their brown skins can handle”.

We need to encourage our children to read about the system of indentured slavery - of the kangchuand kangani and how the Malays were also relegated to becoming ‘reluctant’ producers of the colonial economy. The Malays’ reluctance led to the British designation “lazy native”.

We need to also learn from the Orang Asli and the natives of each state and how their philosophy of developmentalism is more advanced that the programmes prescribed under the successive five-year Malaysia Plans. A philosophy of development that respects and is symbiotic with Nature is certainly more appropriate for cultural dignity that the one to which we have been subjected; one that exploits human beings and destroys the environment under the guise of ‘progress’.

Caged construction

Our history lessons mask the larger issue of traditional, modern and corporate control of the means of production of Malaya. We see the issue of race being played up from time immemorial; issue of convenience and necessity to the sustenance of the status quo and the proliferation of modern local oligopoly and plutocracy.

Our history classes have failed our generation that is in need of the bigger picture; ones that will allow us to see what is outside of our caged construction of historicising. Our historians, from the court propagandist Tun Sri Lanang to our modern historians written under the mental surveillance of the ruling parties, have not been true to the demand of the production of knowledge based on social and humanistic dimensions of factualising historical accounts.

We need to study the political-economy of the rubber and canning industry and the relationship between the British and the American empire as industrialisation began to take off.
The Indians in Malaysia have all the right to ask for reparation and even most importantly they have the rights as rightful citizens of Malaysia to demand for equality and equal opportunity as such accorded to the ‘bumiputera’. Every Malaysian must be given such rights.

Failure to do so we will all be guilty of practising neo-colonialism and we will one day be faced with similar issue of reparation; this time marginalised Malaysians against the independent government of Malaysia. How are we going to peacefully correct the imbalances if we do not learn from the history of international slavery, labour migration and human labour trafficking that, in the case of Hindraf, involved millions of Tamils from Tamil Nadu province?
I once wrote a piece calling for all of us to help the least privileged of our fellow Malaysians - the Indians. The piece called for the leaders to stop fighting and to help each other as well.

I wrote a passage on the need to help each other in the spirit of selflessness and collaboration: “It is time for the other races to engage in serious and sincere gotong-royong to help the poorest of the poor among the Indians. It is time that we become possessed with a new spirit of multi-cultural marhaenism. The great Indonesian leader Ahmed Soekarno popularised the concept of marhaenism as an antidote to the ideological battle against materialism, colonialism, dependency and imperialism. The thought that the top 10 percent of the richest Malaysians are earning more than 20 times compared to the 90 percent of the population is terrifying. What has become of this nation that promised a just distribution of wealth at the onset of Independence?”

Not a Hindu problem

Now we have a better scenario - we have the rights group that is beginning to pull together,-close ranks and demand for their basic human rights that have been denied. Not only their rights to be accorded places of worship and economic justice, but also the rights to look at history and ourselves and interrogate what actually happened and who actually was responsible for the misery, desolation and sustained abject poverty to which they have been subjected.

It is not a Hindu problem - it is universal problem that cuts across race and religion. If we believe in what religion has taught us about human dignity and the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity, we will all be speaking in one voice rallying for those who demand for their rights to live with dignity.

In Hindraf, I believe there are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Catholics, atheists, Buddhists, Sikhs, Bahais, Jains, etc rallying for the cause. In other words there are human beings speaking up for peace and social justice. It is the right of every Malaysian to lend support to their demands.

We have let the Indians in Malaysia suffer for too long. We ought to have a programme of affirmative action in place. We ought to have a sound programme for alleviation of poverty for the Indians and radically improve their conditions through political action, education and cultural preservation. We ought to extract the enabling aspects of culture though and perhaps reconstruct the our understanding of the relationship between culture and human progress.

But can the current political paradigm engineer a solution to the problems of the Malaysian Indians, as long as politics - after 50 years - is still British colonialist-imperialist-oppressive in nature? We have evolved into a sophisticated politically racist nation, hiding our discriminatory policies with the use of language that rationalises what the British imperialists brutally did in the open.

But our arguments cannot hold water any loner. Things are falling apart - deconstructed. The waves of demands, the frequency of rallies and the excavating of issues drawn from the archaeology of our fossilised arrogant knowledge - all these are symptoms of deconstructionism in our body politics. It is like the violent vomit of a rehabilitating cocaine addict undergoing treatment in a Buddhist monastery somewhere in northern Thailand.

We cannot continue to alienate each other through arguments on a ‘social contract’ that is alien from perhaps what Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about some 300 years ago - a philosophy that inspired the founding of America, a nation of immigrants constantly struggling (albeit imperfectly) to meet the standards requirements of equality, equity and equal opportunity especially in education.

How do we come together, as Malaysians, as neo-bumiputeras free from false political-economic and ideological dichotomies of Malays versus non-Malays, bumi versus non-bumi and craft a better way of looking at our political, economic, social, cultural, psychological and spiritual destiny - so that we may continue to survive as a species for the next 50 years?

As a privileged Malaysian whose mother tongue is the Malay language and as one designated as a bumiputera, I want to see the false dichotomies destroyed and a new sense of social order emerging, based on a more just form of linguistic play designed as a new Merdeka game plan.

Think Malaysian - we do not have anything to lose except our mental chains. We have a lot to gain in seeing the oppressed be freed from the burden of history; one that is based on the march of materialism. We are essentially social beings, as Einstein would emphasise. Our economic design must address the socialism of existence.

Let us restructure of policies to help the Indian Malaysians - they are our lawful citizens speaking up for their fundamental rights. Let us help restructure the lives of the poor before they restructure the lives of the rich.

Two years on, the focus is clearer for Hindraf by G Narayanan and Anwar, who are Hindraf's real heroes?

A sea of aggrieved humanity descended to the center of Kuala Lumpur on that historic day on Nov 25, 2007 and that was the day Hindraf was born.

Even though it had existed as a loose grouping of just over 30 NGOs, the Hindraf we all recognise today was indeed born then. It was more of a phenomenon than an organisation on that day.

Many of us were swept along into that phenomenon because of what it meant to all of us. What happened that day was a crystallisation of something that had been brewing for a very long time in the minds of the Indians in the country.

These include emotions of seething anger, disgust, bitterness, alienation and helplessness. All these deriving from a lifelong experience of being put aside, being put down, being treated with indignity, being sidelined, being discarded, being treated like sub-humans, being denied the most basic of rights, being denied equal opportunities and being given reasons and excuses which we felt totally helpless to do anything about.

Now after two years of struggle as an organisation, we have found a clear direction and a firm basis by which to engage in what will be a prolonged struggle - for the inertia of status quo is very strong.

We have removed the chaff from the wheat. Most of those who do not belong have found their way out. We have cleared ourselves of many wishful thoughts. We have a better understanding of reality.

We know what the real issues are, who our true friends are and who our fair weather friends are and who our enemies are. Two years have given us much opportunity to engage the issues and to learn from the various struggles. We can see our mission clearer now for all that. And it is a historic mission.

Hindraf is a working-class movement and the Human Rights Party (HRP) is a working-class party. Hindraf and the HRP lead the Indian poor and marginalised. This is where we originated from - the fight against a convergence of racism by the Umno regime and economic exploitation by the power elite of the country.

Hindraf and HRP will lead the Indian poor and marginalised today to realise a new life for them.

This is our mission. The Indian marginalised and poor are factory workers, service workers, manual workers and often contract workers.

Constant struggle for only the basics

They are drivers, they are security guards, they are the cleaners, they are the gardeners, they are the helpers, they are washerwomen in restaurants, they are the criminals in prison, they are the dregs of Malaysian society.

They form the majority of the Indians in the country. What characterises the Indian society at large in Malaysia today is a constant struggle only for the basics of life. Compared with the other segments of society, you see a contrasting, vibrant, forward-looking set of programmes for them but this basic struggle for the Indians.

The Indians are also the dispossessed in our society. They have no 'kampung' to go back to. They have no ancestral structures to fall back on. They only have their working power to live their lives by. And that too is being blocked in so many ways by the working of this racist system.

And to top this all, the poor and marginalised Indians have been kept in a state of ignorance for as long as they have existed in this country. This makes them a group that is most desirous of change and most in need of change.

To bring about change is their historic role. But they do not yet recognise this role. Hindraf and HRP now have set themselves the agenda of creating this recognition and in the process, uniting this group under one umbrella and forcing change in the system. Forcing change through empowered participation in the political processes of government.

The Indian poor and marginalised have the most to gain from a change to the system and they have the least to lose by any change. Thus, they have the potential for leading change in this country like no other single group.

Hindraf has evolved over these two years to become that organisation that discovered this historic mission for itself and this historic role for the Indian poor and marginalised. This role requires political clout - something which cannot be realised through any existing arrangement.

The needs of the Indian working poor can only be met by a re-engineering of the basic groupings within the government, by restructuring the constitution of those holding the reins of power.

HRP, the political wing of Hindraf, has taken on as its objective to participate in all levels of government to bring about a change to the basic policies. This will mean a change for all the poor and marginalised, not just for the Indians.

But the Indian working poor, organised well and led well, have the potential for leading the charge and creating change for all the working poor and marginalised in the country.

The work of HRP has just begun. Hindraf forms the mass base and HRP becomes the wing that will take on the struggle for national policy changes. This is so clear now after two years of struggle. A journey of a thousand miles starts but with a single step.

Valga Makkal!

Anwar, who are Hindraf's real heroes?

Gandhi: I can only say that P Uthayakumar and some hardcore believers in Hindraf did a sensible and meaningful commemoration of the historical event two years ago.

Where are Thanenthiran, Vasanthakumar and Ganabatirau? Is holding a dinner to commemorate the solemn event a fitting move? Get down in the trenches like Uthayakumar to go all the way to submit the memorandum and keep the fire alive. Knock on the doors of the corridors of power to act on the plight of Indians.

Ranjit Singh: Anwar Ibrahim should take the trouble to do some background checks on this character (Vasanthakumar) before endorsing him. Anwar doesn't seem to learn from his lessons as he keeps recruiting hapless and suspicious candidates who eventually backstab him.

Imhindraf: Hindraf members, please set aside your differences for the benefit of Indians. Hindraf came about to protect the Indians worst-hit by Umno discrimination.

DC: Here we go, another one attempting to gain political mileage for his own benefit. Why didn't he raise the Kampung Buah Pala issue to Anwar? We are not going to see change until and unless these so-called Indian champions openly, and with indignation, raise our issues.

Lvbala: That should be the way, Anwar. "Our political landscape has changed. Indian, Hindu and Tamil problems must be seen and projected as a Malaysian problem."

We should stand as one. United regardless of race, ethnicity and religion. United we must stand and free this holy land from corruption. Make Malaysia proud. Be a proud Malaysian.

Murali: First Thanenthiran sold his soul to Umno and now Vasanthakumar and Ganabatirau have sold theirs to Pakatan for political mileage. These are the selfish people I have seen after Samy Vellu. We will see whether they will highlight and solve the Indian issues.

Let It Be: Hey guys, if Vasanthakumar is going to be a frog there's nothing all of us can do here. Whether he's a true Indian or a frog, only time will tell. The Indians are not blind and you can cheat them only once.

To be frank, the defining moment for Malaysia was when Anwar was sent to prison because the powers-that-e believe they can continue to mislead us. It made Anwar a better person, when otherwise he would be sucked into Umno's politics of deceit and corruption.

Hindraf did the right thing to come to Pakatan Rakyat and let all Indians rally together for a long and meaningful road ahead. Hope, trust, perseverance, loyalty and lastly sacrifice is needed for this journey.

Reaching out to all, Hindraf's theme for third year

Kris Khaira: Timber companies in Borneo steal from the vulnerable through illegal logging because of profit. For the same reason, oil palm plantations pay their workers of all races, including Indians, obscenely low wages. The common enemy here is capitalism, a system that prioritises profit over people.

Gibran: Hindraf is not racist; it started by taking up the plight of the suppressed Indians. If they are successful, the ramifications will be great because this allows other marginalised communities like the disabled, single mothers and the like to bring up their issues.

Hindraf's success is pertinent - we could best equate it with the civil rights movement in US in the 60s, once the African-Americans obtained equal rights other marginalised groups started fighting for their rights too. Let us support this movement.

Paradox: Dear Penan brothers, be prepared! Hindraf will join forces with you to help your struggles. Now, this is what we call the real 'Bangsa Malaysia'. Kudos to Hindraf!

Pau Line Yaacob: Hindraf is on the right path. Many misunderstand them as being a race-based organisation but there is no harm in raising the issues of your community.

Pairin raises KadazanDusun issues as well. Would you call him racist and not seeing larger Malaysian issues? Similarly Hindraf speaks for the marginalised Indians. In fact they are going a step further to incorporate the natives from Borneo. Well done.