struggle of indians in malaysia

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Indian M'sians struggling on an uneven playing

fieldhttp://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/20020601004493.php S

Nagarajan and Dr M Nada 3:24pm Sat Jun 1st, 2002 Since it was announced that

this year's intake into publicuniversities was based on a questionable merit

system thatsustains racial discrimination, there has been a spate

ofcommentaries in the mainstream media on the Indian Malaysiancommunity. Some

of these commentators, mostly Indian Malaysianprofessionals, have resorted to

what we think is a weak attemptat an internal criticism of the community,

sounding more likeIndian-bashing instead. Communal self-reflection and

criticism is certainly a good thingfor it helps to identify issues, build

self-correction measuresand communal self-regeneration. But to do so, one must

be honestand look at the issue carefully and comprehensively. To consider only

the surface issues and forget about structuralones, to merely consider internal

issues without the externalones, borders on prejudice and/or naivety. Thus for

some commentators, the predicament of poor IndianMalaysians is solely of their

own making, i.e. they do not workhard and take advantage of the abundant

opportunities availablein Malaysia. Supposedly, they are always complaining and

squabbling amongthemselves. They do not take an interest nor bother to invest

intheir children's education. They are robbers and violentgangsters. In short,

they are just bad and irresponsiblecitizens who are an embarrassment to the

community and thenation, and hindrance to attaining Vision 2020 and the goal

ofBangsa Malaysia. Are these statements of facts? Are they anywhere near

the'truth' of the matter? Limited view Certainly not. Sadly, some among the

well-placed members of theIndian Malaysian middle class seem to have a limited

view oftheir community and have certainly failed to appreciate theimmense

social, economic and political problems faced by them. This has resulted in

them playing a game of 'good Indian versusbad Indian'. The message they want to

convey to the largerMalaysian society is they are the good Indians. They have

workedhard (the 'rags to riches' story is substituted here) andsucceeded in

life; so why can't the others, particularly thosein the poor community? They

begin to feel that the bad Indians(read as the poor Tamils) are tarnishing

their image throughtheir 'lazy, drunken ways'. As typical of a successful and

comfortable middle class withinweak minorities, they find excuses not to

address the rootcauses of poverty among Indian Malaysians. While

addressingindividual causes they are blind to structural ones. They, for

instance, see the abundance of opportunities but failto see the difference

between these and access to them. Whileexamining the poor community's

behaviour, they somehow do notsee the role of the government or the negative

social impact ofits policies. Either they are blind or are aware that such a

course of actionwould be very uncomfortable and risky. For it involves

callingfor better governance and taking to task the government for itsneglect

of poor Indian Malaysians, while addressing the internalobstacles. So, what's

the easiest thing to do? Make careless statements,avoid taking the government

to task where necessary, createmyths and half truths, and keep badgering the

poor IndianMalaysians for the 'poor image' of the community. There is veryoften

a tone of contempt, which is rather disturbing. Consider the comments by one

Deeo of Banting (New Straits Times,May 22): "Many Indian parents do not really

take a serious interest intheir children's education. They are not really

prepared toinvest in their children's future either because of poorguidance or

they expect subsidies and handouts from thegovernment. "Look at the Chinese.

They are ever willing to work hard, saveand make great financial sacrifices in

life which not manyIndians are willing to do. They have long-term planning.

"But take a look again at the Chinese schools. This situationhas never been a

problem or a stumbling block. They don't dependon the government for hand-outs.

Â"They build their own schools. Don't say the Chinese are rich.There are also

lorry drivers, estate labourers and manualworkers among the Chinese. So what's

the problem? It is thepriorities in life." Only avenue At best, Deeo can be

said to be misinformed. And certainlyunsympathetic. Deeo's assertions are,

however, far from thetruth. While we understand that some parents may not pay

muchattention to education, it is certainly central to most IndianMalaysian

parents. Education has become the only avenue available for theirchildren to

attain upward social mobility. Thus, some poorparents take up two or more jobs

and work very long hours inorder to put their children through school. They put

all hope ontheir children, believing that a university education for theireldest

child will be a ticket for the whole family to climb outof their misery. Here

the attention to individuals should end; we are faced with'structural'

problems. Tamil schools and Tamil education arebeing systematically destroyed

by short-sighted governmentpolicies. And after struggling to put their children

through education,what happens at the university admission level? Their

childrenmay not have gotten straight As in the STPM examination,considering

their socio-economic background. They may not havehad the luxury to spend (the

middle class concern for) 'qualitytime' with their children. But what is

important is these poor children worked hard, triedand qualified to enter

universities. So, naturally when they aredenied admission into public

universities under a veryquestionable race-based merit system, they are upset

and feelcheated. Deeo talks about poor Indian Malaysians not saving,

makingsacrifices and investing in their children's education. Heshould first

suggest how it would be possible for many in thecommunity. Even after over a

century, the plantation owners and thegovernment are still dragging their feet

over the monthly wageissue. The plantation owners are still insisting that they

wouldonly pay RM300 a month. Now, how much exactly is a plantationworker

expected to save from this amount after paying foressentials such as food? We

can forgive Deeo's myopia and ignorance for only as far backas three years ago

even the Primary Industries Minister Dr LimKeng Yaik was not aware what the

rubber tappers were Â"doingbehind the treesÂ", and made a joke of it at the

expense of theIndian community! Deeo is also wrong to suggest that poor Indian

Malaysians havenot tried to help themselves. Just do a cursory examination

ofthe efforts of the community after the announcement of the planto set up

Maika Holdings. He or she will then realise the driveof the community to help

itself and its frustration with theIndian Malaysian political leadership for

its inability toprovide financial certainty. Further, Deeo insults poor Indian

Malaysians claiming they areseeking subsidies and handouts from the government.

Aren't thesepeople citizens of the country whose ancestors had

contributedenormously in laying the foundations of the modern Malaysianeconomy?

Is it pathetic for them to expect the government to allocate afair share of

resources for them to grow with the nation'sprogress? Just policies What the

poor Indian Malaysians seek are just policies from thegovernment and education

and other opportunities to betterthemselves. And really, in principle, why do

we electrepresentatives and put them in our Parliament? Is election justa

matter of finding jobs for some Malaysians in our Parliament?Deeo's argument

here is really pathetic and in need of someminimum exercise of critical

analysis. We wonder why the likes of Deeo are only comparing us with theChinese

Malaysians and not with the Malay Malaysians and theethnically-discriminatory

application of the NEP. Unlike ChineseMalaysians, the bulk of Indian Malaysians

were trapped in acycle of generational poverty peculiar to the

plantationeconomy. Here again, there is a thorough ignorance of thedifferent

histories of the Chinese and Indian Malaysians in acolonial setting. The

rural-based Malays were in a similar situation as the IndianMalaysians in the

plantations more than 30 years ago. Thegovernment embarked on a massive social

engineering programmefor the Malays and allocated billions of ringgit to raise

theirstandard of living. After more than three decades, thegovernment still

considers it has not achieved the desiredresults for Malay Malaysians.

Considering this, how would one expect a numerically small andeconomically

disadvantaged community to overcome similarobstacles on its own, particularly

in a racially-chargedenvironment? Is it not the responsibility of an

electedgovernment to devise an appropriate economic plan to lift thepoor Indian

Malaysians, as all poor Malaysians, out of theirmisery? Another columnist KJ

John (New Straits Times, May 25) lecturesIndian Malaysians how to become

first-class citizens, usingfanciful words such as Vision 2020 and Bangsa

Malaysia. Hisconcept of a Bangsa Malaysia is not really clear. But perhapsthe

Johns, Deeos and others giving their 'three sense' worthwould ponder on these

developments and enlighten us further onhow Indian Malaysians can be a

component of Bangsa Malaysia. The breakdown of rubber plantations, the

migration of poorIndian Malaysians from rural to urban poverty, lack

ofopportunities, the socialisation of the young into anti-socialsurvival

strategies are not purely the making of the community.What has the government

done so far to resolve these matters? The government has formulated a home

ownership scheme forplantation workers decades ago. But plantation owners

areflouting it and the workers end up in urban squatter colonies.When the

government does not set a good example by implementingthe policy forcefully,

how are the young who end up in urbansqualors going to strive to be

Â"first-class citizens? An Indian Malaysian academic has all the paper

qualificationsand slogs for years in a public university. Over the years,

heworks extremely hard and rises to be the acting head in hisfaculty. Then he

goes on annual leave for a week. On returningto work, he finds a junior Malay

colleague has been appointed tohead the faculty. What idea of Bangsa Malaysia

is this IndianMalaysian academic suppose to have? A low-income earning Indian

Malaysian works hard, makessacrifices and saves to buy an average house for his

family.When he buys from a developer, he has to pay more than a MalayMalaysian

millionaire for the same type of house. What relevanceis Bangsa Malaysia to

this average Indian Malaysian house buyer?The family of an intelligent and

responsible Indian Malaysianstudent moves to a new town dominated by civil

servants. Whenthe student enrolls in a new school, her fair-minded Malayteacher

reviews her performance and decides to make her a schoolprefect. But the

recommendation is immediately shot down becausethe student is not a Malay

Malaysian. What idea of BangsaMalaysia is this girl going to hold when she

enters adult life? Some plantation workers managed to move out of their

wretchedenvironment through hard work, sweat and tears. They borrow fromfriends

and relatives, buy small plots of land and go intocattle rearing and other

self-employed activities. Then theirlivelihood gets threatened as some poachers

keep carting awaytheir cattle for about two years. They lodge over 100

policereports about their missing cattle. There appear to be no actionfrom the

Malay-dominated police force. How are these hardworking Indian Malaysians going

to survive and be good citizens?What is Bangsa Malaysia for them? Not realistic

Unless we live in a totally egalitarian society, there is nosuch thing as a

level playing field. A highly stratified,unequal society with

inter-generational poverty cannot have alevel playing field. Agreed, there are

many Indian Malaysians who have entered such afield and come out successful (we

suppose, it includes peoplelike John). But to say people who are talking about

such a problem as havinga level playing field (in the context of discussions

onmeritocracy) are not being realistic or practical is reallymissing the point.

As a democratic principle, should a society plan to achieve adegree of level

playing field? Is that being addressed in oursociety? And practically, should

not capable young Malaysians ofall communities be educated to be 'good'

citizens to leadMalaysia tomorrow? What kind of policy is that that wastes

itshuman resources on the basis of race/ethnic group affiliation? We understand

that this 'rag-to-riches' narrative is aconvenient explanatory model for many

upwardly mobile IndianMalaysians. But it is a model that focuses on some

successfulindividuals and loses sight of the many who are pushed out ofthe

'path of development'. Marginalised. The message to all the Johns and Deeos out

there is simple. Stopjust blaming or demonising the victims of unequal,

unsustainabledevelopment. And, racist policies. If we as a community andnation

are really serious about pulling the poor IndianMalaysians out of their current

rut, we need wholesome analysisand solutions. And that involves not only

undertaking self-criticism to developself-help measures but also making the

government in amulti-cultural society to be more responsive to the plight

ofpoor Indian Malaysians (and poor Malaysians in general). Yes, you can throw

poor families out from the squatters areas(many of these will be Indian

Malaysians) because these slumsare dirty and source of social ills but do that

after installingand realising the right to housing and enabling

livingenvironments in actual practice.

-----------------------S NAGARAJAN was a

journalist with The Star and MalaysianBusiness, and is currently a research

student at the Instituteof Postgraduate Studies and Research, Universiti

Malaya.Dr M NADARAJAH is a sociologist by profession. He works onsustainable

development issues and is currently the deputyco-ordinator of a virtual

organisation called the AsianCommunication Network, with an anchor in Bangkok,

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