So the show is over, and the clever analyses have begun. Lots of ‘I told you so’ and cries of ‘cheating’, ‘unfair’, ‘(censored)’ have been heard.
I won’t go into who’s crying out for justice and who’s boasting of the people’s support. Those aren't as important as what I've discovered, much to my immense distress.
The most shameful issue that has arisen has been the vilification of the Ijok Indians. Those poor rubber tappers are seen by certain losers as the cause of the PKR defeat, while the Chinese (this gives me a bit of a laugh) have been praised because they swung slightly to the opposition, though I wonder where the Chinese had swung from? Were the Chinese previously (in 2004) 50% for the opposition?
Anyway, some very very angry PKR supporters turned their venom on the Indians, because those voters chose to vote BN.
One went so far as to tell the Indians that from now on, they should not waste the time of the average Malaysian, especially Lim Kit Siang, with issues like baby Rayappan, Subashini and Hindu temple demolition.
The bloke even went on to vindictively suggest that the education ministry should now immediately endorse this win by excluding all Indians from universities. How pathetic, and how cruel!
But wait, according to the angry PKR supporter, it’s not all Indians but just the Tamils. Keralites (he meant Malayalam) and the Ceylonese (I wonder whether Singahalese or Panamkottai Tamils?) do have some principles, but Tamilians (he meant Tamils) “are driven by greed and hero-worship in direct contrast to the substantial numbers of Malays and Chinese who voted the PKR at a certain risk.”
Apart from his effusive praise for the risk-taking Chinese (Manjit Bhatia, eat your words ;-) just joking, matey), I wonder how Mr Angry was able to distinguish Malayalam (& Singhalese) from Tamils, let alone the noble characteristics of the Malayalam and Ceylonese (still not sure whether Singhalese or Tamils) versus the villainy of the Tamils.
He ranted: “Do you really think after this anyone in Ijok can look at an Indian in the eye and trust him? These guys just sold out Malaysia because of they wanted material goods” and so on so forth, covering military affairs and murder crimes and building maintenance, etc. It was a fairly broad landscape he covered.
I asked Aneh (hope he doesn’t mind me calling him this) whether it was appropriate or correct to vent his vile on those poor rubber tapper Indians. For a start, at the risk of sounding like an educated snob, I said that those poor Tamils (or Indians – I could never tell the difference between a Tamil or Malayalam unless she’s a she, with the lovely hue and complexion of a ripe Alfonso mango) aren't as well informed as angry Aneh.
In fact, most don't even understand high concepts of democracy and stuff like that. So it's not surprising and indeed natural they went for the material rewards and the local boy made good.
It’s not unlike Vietnam in the late 60’s with the Yanks preaching useless concepts of democracy and various western ideas to a group of blank-face Vietnamese farmers and their families, fretting away listening to irrelevant bull, while chaffing at the reins to just return to and resume their ploughing and planting of their padi fields to ensure they would get their 3 bowls of rice each day, assuming they weren't about to be blasted to smithereens by Yankee artillery when unannounced/unpublicised US military decision turned their farms into free fire zones.
Instead of spewing venom on the hapless Tamil rubber tappers, PKR should be thinking about and developing a strategy to tackle this. Those Indians ARE voters, and if PKR wants their votes, it has to go to them, not berate them.
After all, isn’t 'choice' (no matter how bad, like the Yanks voting twice for a moron) the cornerstone of democracy. Who the Tamils voted for has been and will be a 'choice', THEIR 'choice'. And I don't blame them for voting for material benefits - why would a struggling rubber tapper care for anything other than immediate benefits.
The onus is on PKR to convince them to vote for the party, therefore blame PKR and not those kampong Tamil voters.
But you know what, after reading those unmitigated racist and petulantly vindictive comments, maybe those less fortunate and less educated Indians might have the sort of prescient wisdom we city slickers don’t.
I don't blame those rubber tappers. They are not greedy, they don't ask for a merz or a bungalow each.. they were just asking for land titles they were fighting to get for decades. For god's sake, they don't even have their own land and proper streets conneting their houses to other points in the estate. When they got what they wanted, they took it. Is that wrong? Why would we wanna punish them for that?
ReplyDeleteHi KT,
ReplyDeleteI won't go into racist commentary here, but just want revisit some observations I made way before Ijok, but the by-election just served to re-confirm the facts.
a) The Indian community, especially working class Indians, are now the most solidly reliable Barisan / MIC supporters.
b) The Indian community is the clear loser, the "collateral damage" of the NEP. Their socio-economic position is steadily deteriorating vs. the Malays and Chinese.
Poverty, school-dropouts, broken families, gangsterim - all the symptoms of economic failure.
c) Semi-Value is primarily focussed on improving the economic position of his little circle.
d) Indian temples have been the focus of UMNO-dominated local councils "religous cleansing".
With the exception of a few courageous groups, the response from the Indian community has been a deafening silence.
e) A joke, but maybe not that far from the truth - The Indian community owns 1.5% of the equity in the Malaysian economy, Ananda krishnan already owns 1 %, so all the other Indians only own 0.5%.
Logic would have suggested Indians would be strong opposition supporters, the same way working-class Chinese have been DAP's most loyal constituents. But its not the case.
I don't know what is the answer. I do know Indians who are strong independent voters, but they are educated, middle-class types. I can't get any satisfactory answer on the outlook of rural Indians. Keadilan & DAP need to look deeply at this if they are going to be able to make an impact in the next elections.
Maroon: Hmmm, I also know how to run a democratic election next time when I grow up.
ReplyDeleteWithhold land titles from the poor tappers for 20 years. Then only give it them if you need their vote.
well, you are right.
ReplyDeleteijok indians chose.
and PKR failed to win them over.
samy vellu did a good job.
but they were crucial votes as they consist of 30% of the total.
Indians will never learn to see the truth that they have had their rights sold out...Indians are 3rd class citizens of this country. If they are needed to vote..they can be bought. Until leaders have the balls to fight for them the same sad tale will be repeated...election after election.
ReplyDeleteI hope K Parthiban will have the balls to do something for them now that they have been bought over.
Indians hate MIC but they love BN the moment they hate both oppositions will have a chance in mix constituency like ijok and andalas.The reason they hate MIC is well done now why they love BN??
ReplyDeleteI feel it is only proper that we should not scapegoat the Indians. By and large, there were many Indians too who rallied behind PKR during the by-election and have to endure taunts and physical harm from the like of the UMNO hooligans.
ReplyDeleteI happen to view a video clip on Malaysiakini just before the election where interviews were conducted with some Indian elderly ladies. From what they said, I guess PKR could have kissed goodbye to a bulk of their votes - "Saya dan keluarga semua sokong kerajaan."
If PKR is serious about taking Ijok in the coming GE, they have to make their presence felt now. The best way to do it is to initiate a service centre where everyone can have access to. Popping up when an election is near is not going to help. There is a saying, "Turning up for a dance doesn't mean you are going to be asked for a dance."
Horizon, if you can't think and write straight, i think it is better you don't pose anything here.
ReplyDeleteInstead of analyzing why, some folks take the simplistic & racist option of scapegoating the entire race.
ReplyDeleteAnd such blaming could (and they would) actually be exploited by the BN to further construct the myth that only MIC & Samy Vellu is the savior for the Indians. It doesn't help that the DAP is seen by them to be pro-Chinese & PKR as a bunch of exUMNO Anwaristas... with token Indians at the sides.
It's expected really. The majority of voters don't really care about democracy and corruption and all that. That's secondary when compared to basic needs. If having BN in power for a little while more means that you'd get that land grant, a little bit more salary, or that sewing machine that they desperately needed, then they'd have BN for that little while more. Even if it doesn't help them in the long-term.
ReplyDeleteSad but true. PKR has to fight dirty if they really want to win against BN, or at least show a few dollar bills in front of their potential voters. Its the short-term, people.
I can never understand the Malaysian tamils who are contented to be 4th class citizens. In Ceylon, the tamils there are tamils ever willing to blow themselves up for equality with the Singhalese, but over here...puke!
ReplyDelete