Keeping faith with Hindraf and Waytha Moorthy

Written by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee

Commentary

Three days ago (27 March), together with a colleague, I visited P. Waytha Moorthy who is presently in the 20th day of his hunger (viratham) strike aimed at pricking the conscience of the nation on the plight of the Indian poor and marginalized.

A small group of supporters were also there early that morning, including some who had made the long trek from Kedah to express their support for him and the Hindraf struggle. I noticed that many thousands of mainly Indian supporters had signed the guest book (of supporters visiting him) and was glad to add my name to the list, late though I was in my visit.

He was in a frail and weakened condition when he received us. This was to be expected as he has been struggling with various longstanding health problems even prior to undertaking the hunger strike. Abstention from food for such a long period would take a heavy toll on the wellbeing of even a person in the best of health.

It seemed to me on that day that he was dangerously close to, if not already, exceeding the limits of human endurance in the prolonged fast. However his spirit was undiminished and his mental faculties were as sharp as ever.

We had a fruitful conversation on the importance of Hindraf’s struggle for not only Indians but the whole country. I emerged from the meeting with even stronger feelings of admiration for his steely determination to stay the course in his pursuit of equality, human rights and justice for his community – a cause applicable to all small minorities in the country whose futures and fates are of little or no interest to Umno and its coterie of entrenched business and other elite groups that have cornered most of our nation’s wealth and power.

I had not intended to write about my meeting with him as it was meant to be an act of private solidarity. However, I am impelled to write about it now for two reasons.

The first is to call upon fellow Malaysians to rally around the Hindraf cause. If not because of their concern at the way the Indian poor have been marginalized and compassion for the hundreds of thousands of Indian poor families systematically excluded from access to the prerequisites of a decent livelihood, then at least in recognition of the courage of the movement.

Hindraf and its supporters had been the first civil society organization to openly challenge and fight the odious scourge of racism. It is a struggle in which Hindraf and Waytha have stood apart from the rest of the country in not mincing words and in their readiness to stand for their principles and rights, and if necessary even to endure cracked skulls and spilled blood.

Unfortunately most Malaysians have a short or incomplete memory when it comes to recognition of the individuals and groups that have sacrificed much to ensure a better country for all of us.

Our political amnesia stems from several causes. Some are externally induced such as the official and mainstream mass media and other collaborationist-inclined interest groups ignoring or obliterating the facts on key and sensitive events and issues. Others are internally generated and arise from a culture of cynicism and disbelief in the nobility or goodness of others, and in the promotion of the self as a better being than others.

Hindraf has fallen foul not only of the official and BN propaganda machine but it has also now been demonized in the alternative internet media by cynics who feel that Hindraf’s call to the political parties to support its blueprint – as a pre-condition for its political support in the coming elections – is a betrayal of the reform movement.

To Malaysians prone to or suffering from political amnesia on the meaning and importance of the Hindraf struggle for a truly democratic country, I hope you can visit the Hindraf website ( http://www.hindraf.org/news-statements/927-13-0307-01.html) and spend some time browsing it before you write off the movement.

If surfing is not your inclination, at least let us be reminded of what Hindraf and its leaders have had to endure as narrated in this recent piece of writing of Waytha:

They [Umno] hounded us, harassed us and went to extreme measures to kill us off. They jailed our activists, they linked us to the LTTE, they confiscated my passport and put me in effective exile, they banned us and they used the police to harass us at every turn, they refused to recognize us or have anything to do with us at all. Yet we did not buckle. We resisted, we fought back, we got better organized as a group of activists and we kept going.

The second reason I am writing this is that I have been informed that there has been a worrying deterioration in Waytha’s physical condition over the last day.

In view of this latest development I am appealing to Hindraf’s members, and other Malaysians, to join me in persuading Waytha to call off his hunger strike. This is to ensure that he can continue his struggle for justice, equal opportunity and freedom in the longer run.

A physically debilitated or dead Waytha Moorthy will only deprive Malaysians of sorely needed leadership to correct the structural problems in the country arising from racism and historical injustices, especially pertaining to the Indian community but also of relevance to all Malaysians.

His hunger strike has already achieved its purpose of highlighting the plight of poor Indians as well as drawn attention to the importance of personal sacrifice and high ethical standards that are needed to sustain people's power in the country. He has already successfully reignited the spirit of Makkal Sakthi of 2007/8 in the people. Now he should take care of his health.