A waterfall of tears in Frasers Hill

Hindraf and HRP leader meets a cleaner by chance during his holiday, and the encounter reinforces his belief of the discrimination faced by Malaysian Indians.

COMMENT

P Uthayakumar

My wife Indra and I made a one day trip to Frasers Hill during this Aidil Adha holiday weekend to get away from the daily routine of attending to especially Indian poor issues which we monitor, document and report on a daily basis.

We bumped into Parameswary, 48, and we learnt that despite 23 years, she remains as a cleaner in the very same hotel, denied skills training and upward mobility opportunities and is paid merely RM600 per month.

About one third of her pay ie RM180 goes for her low-cost flat rental. Her Myanmar colleagues are paid higher than her at RM700 to RM1,200 per month – thanks to the government’s foreign workers policy. Her Malay colleague of six years standing earns more than her at RM700 per month – thanks to the racist spillover effect even in the private sector.

Parameswary tells us that she is a single parent and her husband has secured custody of all her three children. After work, she walks home into a lonely, dark, gloomy and cold concrete pigeon hole. She gets up the next day and is back at work right up to about 10pm doing overtime. She is a hard worker but living in a racist country, her painful day to day mysery is a reality she and some two million Indian poor face.

As we checked out the next afternoon, our hotel, food and beverage bill came up to RM800. I wondered that this one day expense was more than Parameswary’s one month salary.

Parameswary’s dream of owning a roof over her head during her sunset years was shattered when told that because of her mere RM600 salary, a housing loan for even a RM45,000 low-cost flat was rejected. Even the much touted Special Government Housing Loan Scheme for the poor through BSN does not filter down to Parameswary and tens of thousands of Indian poor. Her scores of applications to join the local council as even a sweeper and with the hope of getting a government housing loan was also shattered.

She was not granted any welfare help or the single mothers’ financial aid. But the RM251.6 billion 2013 Budget allocates RM1.2 billion for welfare and RM50 million for single mothers but which again does not flow down to Parameswary and the tens of thousands of the Indian poor. And when we protest this level of racism, Umno prosecutes us for Sedition while Pakatan Rakyat brands us as racist.

Lack of a safety net

When asked, I explained to Dr Francis Jana, an Orang Ulu holidaymaker from Sarawak who also stayed at our hotel, that unlike almost all the tens of thousands of Malay, Orang Asli, Kadazan, Iban poor etc who have their village safety net, the Indian poor do not have this. Even the Chinese poor are blessed with 508 Chinese New Villages nationwide.

Even in her old age Parameswary has no village to go back to. Her family and community are in no better position financially to accommodate her. Even the Indian elite do not care. There is no community support system unlike in poverty stricken India where clansmen would somehow accommodate their poor.

Francis conceded that the Indian poor are poorer than the Orang Asli and Orang Ulu who can toil on almost as much land as they want to earn a living.

As we bade farewell, Parameswary suddenly broke out in tears and told us that both her breasts had been removed due to cancer and that even her three children hardly visit her. Almost all her income was spent on medical bills, cheomotherapy and her monthly check ups at Hospital University.

She is even contemplating suicide.

Changes must be effected

We drove down Fraser’s Hills feeling depressed and helpless knowing that Parameswary’s sad story is just the tip of the iceberg of the plight of about some 70% or some two million of the Indians in Malaysia.

I walked into the Hindraf office today (Monday morning) only to see yet another letter by post from retirees N Nallathamby and N Pannirsilvam who are suffering from various illnesses. The latter wrote that even his Socso denied to cover his dialysis treatment.

They wrote for help after being denied government welfare aid or any other National Welfare Foundation, Lembaga Urus Zakat, Yayasan etc help which is accorded to any Malay poor. Neither was any other “cari makan” opportunities granted for these families for example like the 10 acre Felda etc land ownership scheme. The Indian poor are prepared to work hard and do not expect free money.

I had told Dr Francis that our only hope is change by the Malay and Chinese top political leaders from both sides of the political spectrum that eliminates all forms of racism victimising in particular the Indian poor.

The Indian elite and even the alternative offer very little help. And we are not sure if Pakatan would care enough to effect changes to also include the likes of Parames, Nallathamby, Pannirsilvam and the tens of thousands of Indian poor into the national mainstream development when they get to Putrajaya judging by their rule in Selangor, Penang and Kedah.

P Uthayakumar is the pro-tem secretary general of Human Rights Party and a Hindraf leader.