Should Malaysian Indians “BALIK INDIA”

Prior to the run-up to the casting of votes for the 13th GE, a beleaguered Najib Tun Razak asked for, and received, “nambikei” or trust from the Indian community in the country on the specious grounds that they will receive attention for all the ills affecting them.

In exchange for trusting Najib, the Indians were hoodwinked into thinking that they will be taken care of, if not as well as the bumiputras, at least they will get something for their votes. What has transpired since they cast their votes in favor of Barisan Nasional (BN) is that they have received absolutely nothing.

Instead, affirmative action has been provided on a grand scale to thank the Malays for their continued support of BN in a clear reversal and betrayal of the “Satu Malaysia” concept which was used to mislead and misguide the gullible and naïve Indian community.

While the Chinese community was sharp and wise in seeing through Najib’s ploys, the Indian community is now bearing the brunt of not favoring the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The Indian community now is in limbo and looks set to face a very bleak future in this country.

Should Indians “Balik India”

Should Indians just take the cue from the BN government and its leaders and just “balik India” or go back home to India, the land of their fore-fathers, what a bitter pill to swallow?

What a sad and tragic tale to be unwanted though they arrived here mostly as indentured labor to toil and build the Malaysian economy especially in the rubber estates?

After so many years of being in this country and several generations of Malaysian Indians, the community is still shunned and not seen as partners in nation-building and have received the run-around as far as assistance in the different sectors of their life are concerned.

The sad truth about Indians is that they seem to have a blind allegiance for BN. But this is a sheer case of unrequited love as BN hardly cares for the Indian community as evidenced by the way and manner the Indians are faring in this country.

The Indians in this country are part and parcel of those that spread and scattered from India and now live in different countries around the world. Of all the Indian communities around the world it comes as no surprise that it is Malaysian Indians that faced the hardest and harshest of times.

All this despite their unstinting and unfailing loyalty to king, government and country as Indians in Malaysia have proven to be hard working and contributed more than their fair share of effort to build the nation to what it is today.

The jibes that Indians should “balik India” are cruel and heartless. Indians are not divided in their loyalty. Though like most communities that live away from the motherland they maintain ties and links with their roots and heritage, it is in Malaysia they have chosen and opted to settle as citizens.

These are Indians but they are Malaysian citizens. Why should BN-UMNO leaders ask them to go back to India? The community has put up with so much of bother and persecution and been denied unfairly opportunities for them, yet in that strange and ironic way they remain defiantly faithful and loyal as Malaysians.

Why the Indian plight is worsening?

Over the years the Indians have been faced with a dwindling population. There is no longer strength in numbers as they are upstaged even by a few migrant communities now in this country. Indians no longer make up the numbers as they account for only about 9 per cent of the 28 million-strong Malaysian population.

The drastic drop in the number of Indians in this country is due to a deep dive in birth rates, emigration of skilled and educated Indians with their families in tow and the lack of marriages taking place within the community.

The remnants of the Indian community that are in this country are basically the die-hard faithful who still believe in a vision of a “Satu Malaysia” and believe they have a place under the Malaysian sun though the sun is beginning to obviously set on the community.

In the key areas of life such as employment, housing, education and healthcare Indians rate at the bottom of these sectors and do not enjoy any assurance of a quality-of-life that is even comparable to the bumiputra community.

Despite the Indian community being in limbo, Najib has strangely seen to it to continue with affirmative action programs for bumiputras and with only so much to go around, this really means that the Indians are going to be further deprived and neglected.

While certain quarters might cite all this as “scare-mongering” all it takes is to go to the ground and discover the truth of the number of Indians languishing in Malaysian jails in ratio to the number of the population they make up and the number of Indians that are now mentally and emotionally stable.

Given the scenario that Malaysian Indians have become notorious as gangsters and thieves it is hard to envisage what has transpired since the community was displaced mostly from the rubber estates and plantations.

The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is to bear the sole blame for not having the prudence and foresight to take care of the needs of the community in this country and is guilty of having contributed to their present plight owing to the corrupt nature of their leadership.

Back to the future

It is high time the Indian community begin to start to wake up and think of the future direction and shape of the community as it can be undoubtedly certain that any assistance from the BN government would be expected to be a mere eyewash.

Instead of looking to the BN government, MIC and other half baked organizations that have consistently failed to deliver and look after the plight of the Indian community in this country, the best and wisest decision, no matter what reservations they might harbor, is to throw their full weight of support with the opposition of PR.

This way they can be assured of continued support and their well-being will be catered to by PR. But for this Indians must learn to once-and-for-all burn their bridges with BN. They must no longer yield and fall for the oppression and empty promises of BN who wish to make use of Indians but not place them on par with bumiputras.

It is still not too late. The future of PR is beginning to shine brighter and brighter and Malaysians are beginning to realize and understand and come to trust PR as the political party that will govern Malaysia in the near future.

The despotic regimes of BN are beginning to be dismantled and even the evergreen UMNO is beginning to wither. Indians, therefore, have to be wise to read the signs and throw the full weight of their support with PR to ensure they reap the benefit of being counted as a community that matters to all Malaysians. Failure to do so will only spell certain doom for Indians.

Malaysia Chronicle