Palanivel’s conscious mismatch

The MIC president missed his opportunity in seeking more from the PM for the Indian community and showed his ignorance by asking for an extra public holiday for Deepavali instead.

COMMENT

By K Arumugam

On Nov 2, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak joined in the Deepavali celebrations in Batu Caves where MIC president G Palanivel welcomed him with warm and open arms.

Ironically, Palanivel had only one request of Prime Minister Najib – more public holidays for Deepavali. This is the perfect scenario of an opportunity wasted in the name of diplomacy.

Perhaps Palanivel was attempting to sweeten things with Najib following the failure of MIC to obtain extra parliament seats but clearly this should have been an avenue for Palanivel to discuss social issues with the prime minister.

To perhaps reveal to him the atrocity and social oppression that the current Malaysian Indians are currently suffering due to the lack of accountability and responsibility of his government.

Perhaps there was a mismatch between his conscious and subconscious.

In a similar tone, a statement released by the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers Commerce & Industry (MAICCI) on Oct 29, president KK. Eswaran commented that efforts of Najib in ensuring the successful streamlining of the business processes and the implementation of the ETP through special economic committees should be appreciated.

A more topical matter would be to question why isn’t the current government doing more specifically to alleviate the poor Indian Malaysian welfare? Why is there a continuous culture of second classing the Indian Malaysians?

The question here is not what the current government has done but what can be done and should be done. Capacity should not take precedent over reality.

Even remnant policies already in place are with no commitment to implementation or any accountability held against those who are responsible to implement it.

Deplorable Tamil schools still exist, even as we talk about space science of late. Displaced and urbanized Indians Malaysians still live in pigeon-hole homes often cited as breeding ground of social ills.

How can the MIC leader miss the headlines of his own Tamil dailies that have been crying foul over the raw deal of the ex-plantation workers evicted from the estates to build Putrajaya?

There is no doubt that Prime Minister Najib has made some efforts to improve the economic conditions of Malaysian Indians but which class of the Malaysian Indians specifically? The top 10% who consist of business tycoons and rich?

Even if we consider the bulging middle class to be safe, in proportionate reality the bottom 30% to 40% of Indian Malaysians continue to live under continuous cycle of social and economical oppression.

As this season of Deepavali passes by, Malaysian Indians are able to rejoice only in one thing – their loved ones for their government continues to prove unreliable and unaccountable for their promises made during pre-May 5 general election.

Their failure to rise to the occasion is also an embarrassment to Najib for having such allies who are with mental constipation.

The writer is an activist and represents Group of Concerned Citizens.