Listen to the Tamils here when they say pariah is sensitive

LETTER The novel Interlok has brought about a great controversy especially in relation to sentivities of Indian community in Malaysia. The pejorative word such as pariah is not merely sensitive to the Tamil speaking community,but also the marginalised of other groups within the Indian community who are also victims of pejorative terms.

While the author has no intentions to hurt the feelings of the Indian community, by stating that the novel as a factual account of history, such writings could be misinterperated by common people. What more in its the current context in Malaysia where divisive ethnic politics still play a dominant role and there are politicians who are out to make gains from such controversy.

Furthermore students of other ethnic groups who read this novel could use words like pariah to condemn a friend from an Indian community if there is a quarrel, and for this practical reason one has to be discerning on the pros and cons in introducing novels with such terms in schools.

On the other hand, it is vital for those condemming this novel within the Tamil speaking community and Indian community as a whole to reflect whether there is currently a tendency and practice to distinguish people by caste.This requires a truthful and honest assessment because it is still prevalent among certain Indians to distinguish people among caste lines especially if it is related to marriage. For example there is always a tendency even among the educated to ask from which part of Tamil Nadu is one from, and then they make conclusions about the person's caste. This has actually broken up many marriages and separated dating couples.

These sort of hypocritical thinking and practices have to stop because they have not only permeated the social lives of Indians but can also be seen in the ethnic-based political parties, and in turn, drives a caste-centered marginalisation of Indians.

Therefore i hope that the Interlok novel could stimulate rational thinking and a culture of dialogue among different ethnic groups, and most importantly to evaluate our own history and be truthfull about episodes and pejorative terms and see how we could change the situation prevalent in our own communities.

This is far more mature than hiding issues behind emotions in the name of sensitivity, without making any effort to change situations. - Malaysia Chronicle