squeak. speak. roar!

Because when it comes to elections, no mainstream journalist is allowed to write anything less than a pro-government statement.

COMMENT: Led astray by Hindraf leaders
By Marc Lourdes

GIVEN that Malaysia is a country of more than 60 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, with a people who practise all the great religions of the world, its celebration of 50 years of independence in 2007 is something that we all can be proud of.

There have been times when one ethnic group or another has felt marginalised or left out of the economic mainstream; just like today, there are Malaysian Indians who feel disenfranchised.

But like the other ethnic groups, there are many Indians who have done very well and made it to the top rungs of their profession or in business: like Brickfields’ T. Ananda Krishnan, shipping tycoon Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam and the aviation industry’s Datuk Tony Fernandes.

Indians form seven per cent of the population but the number of Indian lawyers and doctors make up almost 20 per cent of the total in the country.

However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that many Indian youth, deprived of job and educational opportunities because of poverty or other reasons, are either unemployable, unemployed or have resorted to crime.
Alcoholism and domestic violence are probably highest among the Indians.

As much as they may want to blame the government for their plight, the community cannot absolve itself of blame.

We may all not have done enough but still, no Malaysian, whatever ethnicity, can say that the last 50 years have been one of systematic abuse, ethnic cleansing, prejudice and oppression.

It may have taken a longer time to solve some problems faced by a particular community; it may have been too little to start with for others.

But to manipulate a people and convince them that they have been deliberately disenfranchised and marginalised is probably the most abhorrent thing any right-thinking person can do in multiracial, multi-religious Malaysia.

And it is even more abhorrent and abominable if those manipulating the masses are those who have, despite the persecution they claim, received the opportunities that allowed them to become lawyers.

The provocateurs of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) would certainly not win any prizes for standing up for the community. If they have done anything at all, it is to manipulate their community, disgrace their country, and tell such vile lies that even the most cynical of Malaysians would never believe.

Ethnic cleansing of the Indians; systematic killing of Indians by police they claimed. And when that failed, they said they did not rule out violence like in Sri Lanka. And these are the same people who carried photos of Mahatma Gandhi, claiming peaceful disobedience.

Had they just focused on the genuine grouses and general unhappiness — and there are many — among the poor Malaysian Indians, they would have done a great service.

But no. Yesterday, just like the first big rally they organised in November, the Hindraf leaders and organisers showed themselves to be what they really are: making themselves dubious heroes of the community by manipulating innocent people.

They claimed they were going to hand over roses to the prime minister but they disobeyed the law and marched.

They said they would bring children and women to the rally. What really happened? There were no roses, hardly any children.

And the organiser, P. Waytha Moorthy, was in London while the supporters faced off with the police.

Waytha Moorthy, his brother Uthayakumar and the four other Hindraf leaders now detained under the Internal Security Act, did the same during the November rally.

They hid in air-conditioned comfort while thousands marched the streets defying police and taking the brunt of the water cannons and tear gas. They only came out when the protest was almost at its end and tried to claim glory.

Heroes?

What kind of heroes are they? Instead of uniting the Indians, they further divide them by separating Hindu from non-Hindu Indians. Christian Indians, Muslim Indians, Sikhs, Sindhis, Buddhists — are they not good enough for the Hindraf leaders?

Have they helped the Indians at all? Even the media in India, to which these Hindraf leaders went running to seek sympathy against their own country, said these leaders had done more damage to the Malaysian Indian cause than help.

The fact is that there are 10 members of parliament from the Indian community — nine from the Malaysian Indian Congress and one from the People’s Progressive Party.

But in none of those parliamentary constituencies do Indian voters represent more than a quarter of the electorate. In fact, in seven of these constituencies, the Indian electorate accounts for only between 11 and 19 per cent of the voters.

In six constituencies, Malays form the majority and in four, the Chinese are slightly higher than the Malays.

So, if Indian votes were the criterion to win, would any Indian be able to be a member of parliament?

But what does Hindraf really want the Indians to do? Vote against all these Indian MPs from the government party, they said, purportedly to enhance the “Indian cause” as espoused in their rally yesterday.

What if the Chinese decided to place a Chinese candidate in the four Chinese majority seats and Malays in the other six? Which Hindraf supporter would represent the Indians in parliament or government? Stupid.

Could such an unlikely scenario take place?

Stranger things have happened.

The third last paragraph bears very strong words and assumptions for a comment. It’s hardly a comment. It’s an opinion and it’s a very strong one at that.

So why do I say the country is screwed up? Because we still accept racial stereotyping and the shit that goes with it without even blinking our eyes. I’m fed up of this racist shit.

This article reeks of hate for Hindraf and dismisses the efforts of many Indians who truly feel marginalised. It is also extremely stereotypical to assume Indians are mainly made up of drunkards and wife-beaters. In this time and age, you would think more educated minds can rid themselves of easy-to-use labels. One would also expect that a writer of calibre for an equally ‘reputable’ paper can offer more constructive views as opposed to insinuating that Indians are destined for misery simply because they make up of the seven percent of the total population.

Hindraf is against discrimination. I can see it and I feel for it. We have all suffered discrimination at one point or another. And it is most disheartening when it happens. Indians (or even the Chinese and other minorities) are not demanding more … they are demanding for EQUALITY. If the government thinks that’s too much to ask for then really, what are we waiting for - vote this racist government out and boycott racist views by writers in propaganda newspapers.

Marc’s opinions strike me as one who is okay with institutionalised discrimination. His views appear to support BN’s divide and rule strategy that one race is incapable of taking care of another and that we must all only vote for those who share the same skin colour as ours. His comments expressly tells Indians to shut up and sit down because this is a system we must accept. It’s narrow and slanted. His defeatist nature reminds me why I choose to support my Indian brothers and sisters in demanding for their rights. This piece of journalism is revolting. It makes me sick just reading it.

If it was written by some VK Chin-esque person I can understand. But this article is coming from a journalist who allegedly left The Star for NST because ‘how can an Indian man rise up the ranks in a Chinaman MCA company’, this is pure hypocrisy.

To be marginalised, know it and not speak up about it, then some people do fucking deserve it.

More at Maverick’s. He couldn’t have put it more eloquently:

So, the Indians and the Hindarfs are called “Stupid” by Marc Lourdes. Uthayakumar and 4 others are in detention camp. They could have hide in their air conditioned office and enjoy themselves, earning reasonably well as lawyers, and needn’t bother about all the other Indians who remained poor and destitute. They could have just left all those Indians’ plight to MIC and Samy Vellu to handle, knowing fully well nothing will be done effectively as observed over the 50 years.

Why do Uthayakumar and Waytha Moorthy chose this difficult path knowing fully well that the ISA would be used against them when they could have remain silent and passive, while earning a good living as lawyers?

Stupid, Lourdes called the Indians’ stupid! Are they stupid? Was Uthayakumar and his Hindraf leaders’ and supporters stupid? Did the leaders chose to live in Kamunting and live as a political refugee instead of staying with their wives and children? Lourdes, you should knows better.

But why was Marc Lourdes not out to speak for the Indians and to support the Indians who are in deep shit? He’s in air conditioned office writing this piece and claiming he knows better how to solve the Indians woes.

Sadly, Lourdes didn’t gave any solution; and I don’t think he has any affirmative action that UMNO would buy it. He just piss on those others who tried and suffered repercussions for highlighting those facts. It was far easier for Lourdes and Kalimuthu to sit in their air conditioned office to piss and swear at the Indians, while buying shares of AirAsia, Tune Money and Tune Hotel in the collaboration with Khairy and Tony.