Hindraf Makkal Sakthi had it coming!

 

If Hindraf decides to contest these seats, it’s unlikely to win any, but nevertheless can succeed in demonstrating that its Indian support base equals or exceeds that given by the community to BN and PR combined.

Joe Fernandez 

Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran penned an irrelevant, certainly self-serving, piece on Sunday in Malaysiakini which once used to be all about making a difference; Hindraf is no longer the force they were(http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/223413).

The MP appears to be implying thereby, among others, in his bleeding heart piece that any ethnic-specific reform proposals put forward by the ad hoc apolitical human rights movement, no matter how well meaning, can be trashed unceremoniously.

His approach to Hindraf, at the risk of repetition, is not the merits or otherwise of its reform proposals but rather the delusion that the NGO movement is past its shelf life since it insists like Jeffrey Kitingan on quarrelling now rather than later.

Besides, he alleges like his fellow mandores and oodampillai (Tamil for running dog), that Hindraf is really too kurang ajar (ill-mannered) for his new statesmanlike station in life up in the clouds. The word “Indian” is not to be uttered in public at the risk of being labelled not only kurang ajar, but racist or worse!

He made scant references, no doubt grudgingly, to Hindraf’s 25 Nov, 2007 Rally in the streets of Kuala Lumpur and the mid-Feb 2008 Rose Rally in Putrajaya. He thinks, in an attempt to seize the moral high ground, that perhaps these two events played a role in denying the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) the coveted two-third majority in Parliament at the last outing.

But too much should not be made of Hindraf’s role in the political tsunami of 2008, belabours Kula and his kind, quickly returning like snails to the mud which they prefer as their comfort zone.

Siapa yang makan cili akan rasa pedasnya!

Also, there’s the little matter of Hindraf labeling Kula and others like him with kurang ajar terms of “endearment” like mandore and oodampillai.

Kula may be in good company with the proxies, stooges, and rogue elements in Sabah and Sarawak politics which bedevil Jeffery’s and the Orang Asal’s ties with the Malaysian state.

If the cap fits, wear it. Siapa yang makan cili akan rasa pedasnya!

Otherwise, why bother!

The Indian Nation in Malaysia, in any case, is much bigger than the fate of a few individuals who get their proverbial 15 minutes of fame and cling on for dear life to public life for self-serving reasons and strut around as if the Gospel Truth is with them.

Hindraf had it coming considering Kula’s tirade and the virtually racist and derogatory comments elsewhere directed at it in the wake of the controversy which erupted in Opposition ranks over its Blueprint for Indians in Malaysia.

Hindraf has no mandate from Indian Nation in Malaysia

The Blueprint and its earlier 18 Point List of Indians Demands have certainly sowed the seeds of suspicion and doubt on Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) Buku Jingga and Manifesto and the BN’s various Transformation Programmes.

Hindraf does not appear to be so concerned about the BN Programmes which the movement has dismissed so far as nothing but hot air.

The Buku Jingga and Manifesto are a different matter altogether since much thinking appears to have gone into it. Hindraf is concerned that they omit mention of Indian-specific issues.

Hindraf certainly had it coming considering that the political mandores and oodampillais they refer to in PR see the movement as having no mandate from Indians to negotiate with the Opposition Alliance, the BN or anyone else for that matter. The little matter of 85 per cent of Indians voting for PR in 2008, thanks to Hindraf, seems to have been all but quickly forgotten.

There’s a point here.

Hindraf too has made much of “evidence of public support” it has been demonstrating through dinner functions held with opinion leaders from various walks of life, Town Hall- style Meetings and tea parties, the last taking a leaf from Jeffrey’s successful Borneo Tea Party gatherings.

Still, where’s the mandate, shriek the “ungrateful” mandores and oodampillais in the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Democratic Action Party (Dap) in unison.

Kula and Co are fine ones to ask!

85 per cent of Indians voted against BN in 2008

The mandores and oodampillais certainly don’t have a mandate either from Indians, having been elected largely by non-Indian votes attracted by the Rocket sign and the blue-black eye suffered by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at the hands of a former Inspector General of Police. So, they have no business either asking whether Hindraf has any mandate from the community to negotiate with PR or BN for that matter.

The question of Hindraf getting a mandate from Indians does not arise. There are no ethnic Indian-majority seats in Parliament or any state assembly. The marginalisation and disenfranchisement of Indians over the last 56 years, under the Umno-led BN Government, has been complete. Their voices have not been heard in the legislature since independence in 1957. Indians in the legislature, all elected by non-Indians by and large, are kidding themselves!

To add insult to injury, 350,000 Indians have been deliberately kept stateless to keep them out of the electoral rolls and at the same time provide a readily-available domestic pool of slave labour in the twilight zone.

There are 67 parliamentary seats in Malaya, and related state seats, where Indians decide.

Hindraf clinging on to romantic notions of 2007 and 2008

If Hindraf decides to contest these seats, it’s unlikely to win any, but nevertheless can succeed in demonstrating that its Indian support base equals or exceeds that given by the community to BN and PR combined.

Such a bold move by itself would be damaging to PR since the opposition needs Indian votes much more than the BN does as the 2008 General Election results proved. In the 12th GE, BN obtained only 15 per cent of the Indian votes cast.

Yet, it has been the BN wooing the Indians all the time since 2008 and not PR. The suspicion is that this is just a ploy to weaken the Opposition in the run-up to the 13 th GE. The BN doesn’t expect to ever regain its two-third majority of 2004 and the years before. After the GE, the BN will promptly forget the Indians again until the next time when a GE is due and the coalition hopes that the community would have forgiven them if not forgotten their sins.

Outside the 67 parliamentary seats, and the related state seats, it will be damaging to both PR and BN if Hindraf urges Indians to vote against all incumbents on the grounds of “non-performance”.

The jury is still out on which coalition, BN or PR, will be hurt more by this Indian strategic approach, and how this will translate into the total number of seats lost.

If Hindraf is yet to burn its bridges, put it down to the movement’s leaders being perhaps more than a little naïve, or clinging on like “idealistic fools” to romantic notions of 2007 and 2008 – “Oh! Those were the days!” – and perhaps even a sincere although not too apparent desire to genuinely protect the Opposition leaders, the much-reviled and universally detested mandores and oodampillais included, from themselves.

You cannot fool all of the people all of the time

In the end, there’s only so much Hindraf can do.

They can’t continue to be gluttons for punishment.

If Opposition leaders refuse to be saved, the movement has no choice but to cut its losses and move on.

In any case, whether BN or PR takes Putrajaya, Indians are more likely to get the short end of the stick as usual.

There’s no need for Indians to turn to anyone.

Their best bet is to avoid party and coalition politics and vote strictly on the basis of the candidates offering themselves to the electorate.

If good fortune favours the Indian Nation in Malaysia one day, the Federal and state governments will fall every GE like tenpins in a bowling alley and keep falling until there’s a realization all around that it’s time – better late than never -- to make difficult choices and necessary compromises if we are to move on.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Abraham Lincoln

Joe Fernandez is a mature student of law and an educationist, among others, who loves to write especially Submissions for Clients wishing to Act in Person. He feels compelled, as a semi-retired journalist, to put pen to paper -- or rather the fingers to the computer keyboard -- whenever something doesn't quite jell with his weltanschauung (worldview). He shuttles between points in the Golden Heart of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, northern Sarawak and the watershed region in Borneo where three nations meet.