Indians want due recognition, Najib

The Prime Minister has a golden opportunity to impress them at MIC's 66th Annual General Meeting tomorrow

For the first time in the history of the Umno, the party’s annual general assembly held last week ended without any racist remarks against non Muslims. Unlike previous assemblies, delegates this time around had their sights on opposition chief and former Umno deputy president Anwar Ibrahim.

The four-day assembly was “muted”, despite Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil upping the ante by warning that the May 13 tragedy might be repeated should Umno become weak and not able to overcome its challenges.

However, in a quick reaction deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin doused the potential flashpoint reassuring Malaysians that the May, 13, 1969 racial riots would not be repeated.

In aiming their anger against the opposition, delegates focused on PAS more than DAP. Pundits claim that the “mild” assembly showed Umno was at a crossroad. It wants the Malay votes but at the sametime it is not ready to forsake Chinese and Indian voters.

But one question begs an answer. Can a less racist Umno win back the hearts and minds of Chinese and Indian voters? The answer is definitely a big no.

Observers believe that since the Chinese community has swung towards the opposition, Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak needs Indian votes for Barisan Nasional to emerge victorious at the next election, to be called within the next four months.

None of the 222 parliamentary seats in the country has Indian majority in terms of voters. Despite this the community could swing results either way, if there is a split in Malay and Chinese votes in a particular constituency

With MIC’s 66th Annual General Meeting (AGM) tomorrow, Najib has the golden opportunity to impress the Indian community through his opening speech.

Since taking helm of the country and the ruling BN coalition some three years ago, Najib has been going the extra mile to shore up Indian support for the ruling government.

History of Indians

At the 2008 electoral outing, BN, then under the leadership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, lost its long held two-thirds majority in Parliament. It also lost four state governments  Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. Kelantan has traditionally been in the hands of PAS, a member of the opposition pact, Pakatan Rakyat -  made up of PAS, DAP and PKR.

The MIC assembly comes at a crucial moment, taking into account the looming general election. Pundits have pointed out that Najib’s speech may include an apology to the community for sidelining Malaysian Indians from the wave of development.  They also expect, the prime minister to splash large amounts of money for the community.

It has to be noted that Najib todate had allocated nearly RM900 million for Indians in the last two years. Yet, he faces difficulty in getting back the Indian votes, which was solidly behind BN until 2008.

What does the community really want? Why is it so difficult to get the Indians back to the BN? The answer to these two questions needs some history lessons.

One look at Umno’s version of Indian history in Malaysia reveals a lot. According to Umno, Indians are a group of uncivilised people brought to Malaya from India by the British government.

They are traditionally divided into castes where most Malaysian Indians are from lower caste. Words like ‘pariah’ and ‘keling’ were often used to describe them.

This is how Umno had painted out the Indians, turning them into a disgruntled underclass. The community complained of being neglected and marginalised by the Umno-led government.

However, Malaysian Indian roots run deep dating back to the first century, when an ancient Indian kingdom ruled the northern part of Malaysia.

Evidence of such a kingdom was found in Lembah Bujang in Kedah. Since the site was rediscovered by explorers in the 1930s, more than 50 temple ruins have been excavated in the valley, making it Malaysia’s richest archaeological treasure trove.

Systematically sidelined

However, till today the government, for whatever reason, has yet to recognise or acknowleged that the ruins were part of the ancient Indian kingdom. A sign board at Bujang Valley museum describes the ruins as an “old Malay kingdom”.

It is things like this which has simmered for sometime among the Malaysian Indian community. During the post colonial era, Indian were professionals in terms of employment. While, many had worked in estates in the early days, quite a number of them understood the importance of education and pushed the second generation towards this.

The community produced numerous doctors and lawyers in the 1960s.However, this has changed. While the community still places emphasis on education, not many are given seats at government run higher education centres to pursue professional courses. Seats are now awarded based on the race based quota system.

Umno had also systematically sidelined the once hardworking and economically vibrant Indian community into a “forgotten community” through its ethnic and religious policies.

People like Bastianpillai Paul Nicholas (first Asian banker in British Malaya), Janaki Davar (one of the women involved in the fight for the Malayan independence), Sybil Karthigesu (only Malayan woman to be ever awarded with the George Medal for bravery), SA Ganapathi (first president of the 300,000-strong Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU) which fought for the country’s independence) and Dr TJ Danaraj (University Malaya’s medical faculty founder and former Dean), have been omitted from the history books.

Today, Indians lag behind other ethnic groups in almost all areas. While they form just 7% of the total population, they account for 63% arrested under the Emergency Ordinance for violent crimes. They also constitute 41% of beggars and 20% of child abusers.

Indians rank lowest in national elementary-school examinations, about one in every 12 Indian children do not even attend primary school. Umno’s racist policies had pushed the Indian community to the wayside of nation-building since independence.

Thus, the MIC annual general assembly to be held at the Putra World Trade Centre tomorrow would be the right venue for Najib to rewrite history.

Najib says his government is helping the Indians. Giving out loans to small-business and financial aid for students would not impress the community. The community wants to be recognised.

This does not cost a single sen. The government should acknowlege the contribution of Indians to this country. And the recognition must come in seven key areas – politics, government affairs, education, jobs, culture, history and socio-economy.

If Najib can touch and talk on this tomorrow, he would not have to fork out so much money in an attempt to win the hearts and mind of Malaysian Indian voters.