Monday, August 25, 2008

Malaysia must begin to mull...

...ways and means to make sure that the minority communities are not discriminated against
The subtle equilibrium of the inter-racial politics of Malaysia has come under serious peril from an unanticipated front & the response from the Malaysian Government poses critical questions about freedom of expression. A relatively unknown conglomerate of Hindu NGOs named Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) called a mammoth rally in Kuala Lumpur, to air its objections about the so called marginalisation of the Indian ethnic minority community (read Tamil Hindus). Apart from that, in a somewhat comical demand, the organisation also demanded compensation from Great Britain for the community’s exploitation during the colonial era. An off the guard government came quickly to action & arrested the top HINDRAF leaders.

Surprisingly, HINDRAF’s mass mobilisation has made very little or no appeal to non-Hindus, many of them Indians. The situation was somewhat worsened by the un-diplomatic participation of Indian politicians in a war of words with their Malaysian counterparts. M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu reacted angrily to the events. The RSS grabbed the chance to show itself as the sole propagator of Hindu cause & talked about “global unity of Hindus”. As always, authorities too, jumped the gun.

Many ethnic Chinese & Indians, who form the two main minority communities, are uncared for, particularly concerning an affirmative action programme named ‘Bhoomiputra Programme’ that gives privileges to Malays in business, jobs & education. What made the issue complex was the fact that any attempt to air ethnic minority grumbles in Malaysia is always projected by the Malay dominated government & administration as a threat to national security & cannot be allowed to be glossed over, without mentioning the 1969 race riots, which had Malays & Chinese against each other, that claimed several lives. The same happened this time as Sami Velu, the Minister for ethnic minority Indians & himself a Hindu, termed the protest irrational & accused RSS and other NRI Hindus of trying to destabilise the country.

Nevertheless, HINDRAF thinks otherwise. P. Uthyakumar, the legal advisor of HINDRAF told B&E, “Sami Velu is a proxy of the UMNO led government. In exchange for the salary, the royal awards and also some government contracts, his job is to cheat the Indian community.” Meanwhile, Malaysia has said that it is willing to sacrifice public freedoms for the sake of national stability. It can be concluded that recent events have deeply affected the social fabric of Malaysia. For a novice, Lord Rama is the most favoured hero of Malaysians & stage performance on Ramayana, the most watched event. There is a lesson to be learnt there.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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