Easy for armchair critics to bash Hindraf

Letter by : Not So Stupid via M'Kini
Image : NST

This is my response to Marc Lourdes, who wrote a commentary in the New Sunday Times on Feb 17.

Dear Marc,

I read your comment with disgust. You ended your piece with the word ‘Stupid’. Let me start my letter with the same word.

Stupid! Yes, you and the rest of the Indian Malaysians have been in this category for the past 50 years. Subservient, timid, gullible, and the whole works. You may be right that the number of Indian lawyers and doctors form around 20 percent of the total number. But who are you to flaunt this figure and be proud about it? Did you in any way contribute towards this figure? Most of the Indian professionals in Malaysia did not get to where they are today because of the government. We hardly receive any aid from the government be it in any form whether they are scholarships, business licenses, bank loans, job opportunities, promotions in the civil sector, business contracts or whatsoever. The number of Indians who receive these aids is certainly limited.

It is ridiculous to say that the Hindraf lawyers received the opportunities to be lawyers. Do you know if they were fully sponsored by the government? Were they given allowances during their stay overseas like some privileged ethnic group? Where they given a place at the local university on a silver platter?

It is certainly easy to be an armchair critic. Sitting in air-conditioned comfort, you will not understand the struggle of the average, lower-level Indian (or for that matter anyone). Have you ever seen how the bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak lives just on a meager wage and income? How would you feel if your loved ones are tortured under police custody, asked to perform most outrageous acts or their bodies snatched upon death to be buried as a Muslim? We are fine ones to comment and critise the incidents at Abu Ghraib prison. No shame.

Can you tell me out of the thousands of national schools in Malaysia, how many have non-Malay principles? How many GLC companies have non-Malay directors and staff at their top management level? How many universities have non-Malay vice-chancellors, deans or heads of departments? How many hospitals have non-Malay directors and heads of departments? How many ministries have non-Malay secretaries-general and staff at the top management level? The list can just go on and on. But one last question – how many schools have non-Malay head prefects? Even at the lowest level, opportunities are not given to the non-Malays. Is the answer to this is as simple as ‘No qualified personnel among non-Malays?’ Ask yourself and do some soul searching. If you are still lost, I am equally lost for words.

Ten members of parliament from the Indian community, you say. Who are they and what have they contributed to the community? Most of them are thugs who fill up their own coffers. One minister even called a woman MP for a fight. Aren’t you ashamed of them? The Indian community will be better off without them.

To your question ‘Which Hindraf supporter would represent the Indians in parliament or government’ - do you sincerely think Thaipusam was declared a public holiday because of MIC’s struggle? All of a sudden, we see mushrooming of government committees to look into the issues that have been plaguing the Indian community. No one can be a bigger fool than a person who thinks MIC is behind this sudden concern over the Indian community.

Before you go on to criticise the Hindraf leaders, ask yourself what have you contributed towards your community or Malaysia. Have you spent a single ringgit to sponsor the education of any underprivileged student? Have you spent your free time to teach at an orphanage or at any of the rural areas? Have you attended to someone without a birth certificate, donated to your church for the poor or advised children of illiterate parents on education options or job opportunities? Well, it is certainly easy to be an armchair critic.

The Hindraf leaders have finally managed to wake the Indian up from his long slumber. If you can’t help the community to move forward, do not push them backwards please.

You say Hindraf leader, P Waythamoorthy was in London while his supporters had to face the police. Did you sincerely think Waythamoorthy is in one the five-star hotels in London, having good time attending parties and sightseeing? Not only he is sacrificing his valuable family time but also his income for this noble struggle. The same goes for all the other Hindraf leaders who are detained in Kamunting now. These are the lawyers who have put their struggle for the Indian community above anything else. These are the same people who have taken up several legal cases to seek justice for the Indians without expecting anything in return. These are the people who used their bare hands to stop bulldozers from crushing Hindu deity statues.

They are the heroes. Are you eyeing for a seat on the MIC platform through your articles? Good luck, you fit the MIC bill well. Birds of the same feather flock together. But if you wish to wake up and see the truth, check the statistics. They will tell you the true Indian position in this country and all the opportunities (‘ethic-cleansing’ acts) that have been ‘bestowed’ upon them.