Deep within the dark recesses of every man lurks a beast, and deep within the dark recesses of every beast lurks a man. So humanity exists on a fulcrum of emotions balancing between man and beast.
A thought-provoking statement indeed. And while those words have been hardwired into my brain, I am, however, hard-pressed to recall their origin.
Never mind that. The point is that those profound words echoed in my head as I reflected on how certain life circumstances can blur the line between right and wrong.
And turning the wheels of this train of thought was Tom Hanks' latest movie, ‘Captain Phillips', a gripping portrayal of a true incident where a cargo ship captain is taken hostage by Somalian pirates in 2009.
In the opening scene, Hanks, who plays Captain Richard Phillips, tells his wife how the world has become more competitive. And in order for their children to succeed, they must be strong, for the corporate sector demands survival of the fittest.
In the next scene, we see Somalian warlords recruiting young men, some barely in their teens, from a village, to execute raids on cargo ships. Here too, it is a case of survival of the strongest, the difference being that the choice here is between life and death.
And therein lies the cinematic brilliance of director, Paul Greengrass.
He gives the pirates a human face, showing glimpses of their diametrically opposed economic and social dimensions.
I felt a jab of sympathy seeing one of the pirates, a barefoot, fear-stricken teenager brandishing an AK-47 rifle. This kid, who could not even afford shoes, is dicing with death. Even Phillips seemed to have a soft spot for him.
In their ensuing conversations, Greengrass, captures in fleeting moments, the poverty and desperation which have driven these young men to cross the line, issues which the Navy Seals' bullets that would later pierce their skulls will never comprehend.
The pirates are ecstatic to learn that the ship is American, knowing well that the Capitalist Gods have been generous with that nation as opposed to theirs, and so, the rewards will be nothing short of handsome.
Below is an exchange between the captain, nicknamed "Irish" by his captors, and the pirate leader known as Muse, which sums it all.
Phillips: "There's got to be something other than fishing and kidnapping people."
Muse, with a reflective look, replies: "Maybe in America, Irish, maybe in America."
Somalian pirates and Indian youths
After the movie ended, I could not help but wonder about the parallels between the situation of the Somalian pirates and Indian youths in Malaysia, who are also falling prey in droves to bullets in their quest for riches.
And so, I decided to pick the brains of PKR vice-president N Surendran on this issue.
The lawyer-turned-politician is often at loggerheads with the police over his accusation that the men-in-blue indulge in extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals, robbing them of a fair trial and the chance of rehabilitation.
But for the dilemma faced by poor Indian Malaysians, Surendran pinned the blame squarely on the government, which he claims lacks the political will to resolve the problem.
Like the Somalian pirates in Captain Phillips, he said many Indian youths turn to a life of crime due to the lack of opportunities, be it in business or education.
"Poverty is a generational problem, which translates into crime, and subsequently leads to racial stereotyping - that all Indian youths are gangsters," he toldMalaysiakini.
Surendran (left) also pointed out that a large number of Indians dwell in deplorable housing conditions, both in urban and rural areas.
This is a valid point. A home should provide psychological comfort and security for its occupants, but this is not the case with low-cost housing projects.
These congested and stressful living environments become fertile breeding grounds for social ills.
The bottom line, said Surendran, the government has no clue or plan on how to tackle this situation.
"All they have is punitive action such as preventive laws and the ‘Ops Cantas' (the codename for the operation to crackdown on gangsterism)," he added.
The problem, according to the PKR leader, is deep rooted and complex, which cannot be solved with one-off remedies.
Surendran also noted that funds disbursed by the government for the community are channeled through MIC and NGOs, but the monies do not trickle down.
"The government cannot show the facts and figures on how this monies are utilised, so we have to reach the conclusion that the funds are not reaching the intended target.
"For example, in the issue of red identity cards, we know the government disbursed funds in the aftermath of political pressure. But the problem remains unresolved. This is an example of how funds are misused," he said.
"I call this political disbursement - when it is politically convenient, money is given," he added.
No safety net
Delving into the historical and cultural factors, Surendran said when the Indians were uprooted from the estates, the government had no safety net or development plan for them.
"So many Indians drifted into the cities and lived in paltry conditions. But the key historical cause is the serious neglect of the BN government.
"To put it bluntly, the government did not care what happened to the Indians... Mind you, even in the estates, they were suffering, and the situation just got worse," he added.
Reiterating that the government did not possess the political will, Surendran, citing the statements of Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim, said it often pretends that there is no problem.
Shahidan had recently claimed that the high number of Indian doctors and lawyers proved that the community is successful and called on critics not to pin the blame on government policies.
However, Surendran dismissed this as a flawed argument.
"This does not mean the community is doing well. Most of these doctors and lawyers obtained their qualifications through self-financing, where parents were even forced to mortgage their houses to pay for their children's education.
"The Indians who make up seven to eight percent of the population only own 1.3 percent of the nation's equity. What does this mean? The Indians have next to nothing," he said.
As for MIC, Surendran said the party has "no capability, capacity or interest" in raising the living standards of the Indian Malaysian community.
"MIC's failure is symptomatic of the failure of racial politics or the compartmentalisation of issues according to race. Help must be accorded based on needs, not race," he stressed.
As and until concrete plans and actions are put in place, poor Indian Malaysian youths, like the Somalian pirates, seem destined to sail into troubled waters, risking life and limb.
A thought-provoking statement indeed. And while those words have been hardwired into my brain, I am, however, hard-pressed to recall their origin.
Never mind that. The point is that those profound words echoed in my head as I reflected on how certain life circumstances can blur the line between right and wrong.And turning the wheels of this train of thought was Tom Hanks' latest movie, ‘Captain Phillips', a gripping portrayal of a true incident where a cargo ship captain is taken hostage by Somalian pirates in 2009.
In the opening scene, Hanks, who plays Captain Richard Phillips, tells his wife how the world has become more competitive. And in order for their children to succeed, they must be strong, for the corporate sector demands survival of the fittest.
In the next scene, we see Somalian warlords recruiting young men, some barely in their teens, from a village, to execute raids on cargo ships. Here too, it is a case of survival of the strongest, the difference being that the choice here is between life and death.
And therein lies the cinematic brilliance of director, Paul Greengrass.
He gives the pirates a human face, showing glimpses of their diametrically opposed economic and social dimensions.
I felt a jab of sympathy seeing one of the pirates, a barefoot, fear-stricken teenager brandishing an AK-47 rifle. This kid, who could not even afford shoes, is dicing with death. Even Phillips seemed to have a soft spot for him.
In their ensuing conversations, Greengrass, captures in fleeting moments, the poverty and desperation which have driven these young men to cross the line, issues which the Navy Seals' bullets that would later pierce their skulls will never comprehend.The pirates are ecstatic to learn that the ship is American, knowing well that the Capitalist Gods have been generous with that nation as opposed to theirs, and so, the rewards will be nothing short of handsome.
Below is an exchange between the captain, nicknamed "Irish" by his captors, and the pirate leader known as Muse, which sums it all.
Phillips: "There's got to be something other than fishing and kidnapping people."
Muse, with a reflective look, replies: "Maybe in America, Irish, maybe in America."
Somalian pirates and Indian youths
After the movie ended, I could not help but wonder about the parallels between the situation of the Somalian pirates and Indian youths in Malaysia, who are also falling prey in droves to bullets in their quest for riches.
And so, I decided to pick the brains of PKR vice-president N Surendran on this issue.
The lawyer-turned-politician is often at loggerheads with the police over his accusation that the men-in-blue indulge in extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals, robbing them of a fair trial and the chance of rehabilitation.
But for the dilemma faced by poor Indian Malaysians, Surendran pinned the blame squarely on the government, which he claims lacks the political will to resolve the problem.
Like the Somalian pirates in Captain Phillips, he said many Indian youths turn to a life of crime due to the lack of opportunities, be it in business or education.
"Poverty is a generational problem, which translates into crime, and subsequently leads to racial stereotyping - that all Indian youths are gangsters," he toldMalaysiakini.Surendran (left) also pointed out that a large number of Indians dwell in deplorable housing conditions, both in urban and rural areas.
This is a valid point. A home should provide psychological comfort and security for its occupants, but this is not the case with low-cost housing projects.
These congested and stressful living environments become fertile breeding grounds for social ills.
The bottom line, said Surendran, the government has no clue or plan on how to tackle this situation.
"All they have is punitive action such as preventive laws and the ‘Ops Cantas' (the codename for the operation to crackdown on gangsterism)," he added.
The problem, according to the PKR leader, is deep rooted and complex, which cannot be solved with one-off remedies.
Surendran also noted that funds disbursed by the government for the community are channeled through MIC and NGOs, but the monies do not trickle down.
"The government cannot show the facts and figures on how this monies are utilised, so we have to reach the conclusion that the funds are not reaching the intended target."For example, in the issue of red identity cards, we know the government disbursed funds in the aftermath of political pressure. But the problem remains unresolved. This is an example of how funds are misused," he said.
"I call this political disbursement - when it is politically convenient, money is given," he added.
No safety net
Delving into the historical and cultural factors, Surendran said when the Indians were uprooted from the estates, the government had no safety net or development plan for them.
"So many Indians drifted into the cities and lived in paltry conditions. But the key historical cause is the serious neglect of the BN government.
"To put it bluntly, the government did not care what happened to the Indians... Mind you, even in the estates, they were suffering, and the situation just got worse," he added.
Reiterating that the government did not possess the political will, Surendran, citing the statements of Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim, said it often pretends that there is no problem.
Shahidan had recently claimed that the high number of Indian doctors and lawyers proved that the community is successful and called on critics not to pin the blame on government policies.
However, Surendran dismissed this as a flawed argument.
"This does not mean the community is doing well. Most of these doctors and lawyers obtained their qualifications through self-financing, where parents were even forced to mortgage their houses to pay for their children's education.
"The Indians who make up seven to eight percent of the population only own 1.3 percent of the nation's equity. What does this mean? The Indians have next to nothing," he said.
As for MIC, Surendran said the party has "no capability, capacity or interest" in raising the living standards of the Indian Malaysian community.
"MIC's failure is symptomatic of the failure of racial politics or the compartmentalisation of issues according to race. Help must be accorded based on needs, not race," he stressed.
As and until concrete plans and actions are put in place, poor Indian Malaysian youths, like the Somalian pirates, seem destined to sail into troubled waters, risking life and limb.
RK ANAND is a member of the Malaysiakini team.
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