Why the Indian community prefers to celebrate gangsters more than official community leaders
7 Jul 2025 • 9:00 AM MYT
TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher
Image credit : Aliran
I don’t know which gangster died recently, but at least one must have died recently, because former DAP MP Charles Santiago was lamenting loudly about how it was painful it was to witness thousands of young Malaysian Indians, including schoolchildren, turning up in force for the funerals of gang leaders and underworld figures.
“It is both painful and telling to witness thousands of young Malaysian Indians, including schoolchildren, turning up in force for the funerals of gang leaders and underworld figures.
“Meanwhile, the passing of educators, scholars, or community leaders who have dedicated their lives to uplifting the Malaysian Indian community barely registers,” Charles lamented.
I have to say I agree with him that I really couldn’t much care much when Indian political or community leaders kick the bucket either.
Former MIC Chief Palanivel died recently, and the elites were singing praises of him, but personally, this wasn’t really news for me. I am quite sure it was not news to most of us in the Indian community either. Officially, the late Palanivel might fall under the category of an Indian leader, but in reality, he was probably just another guy to most of us – hearing that he had passed away was like hearing that a friend’s friend’s friend, who you met a couple of times at a party, had passed away - you recognise the name and person, but it doesn’t really matter to you, because he had little to no relevance to your life.
When SMC’s Thambirajah died soon after, I think it moved my heart and mind by a little more, for the late Dr Thambirajah had a little bit more relevance to me – the SMC concept that he started for the Indian community was a big deal when I was young and I even went to their centre a couple of times - I even joined in their “kalvi yathirai” event at Batu Caves one time – so the news about his death probably moved my heart and mind by a little more than the death of other Indian leaders, but on the net, I think Santiago is absolutely right, I think the community truly isn’t really that moved by the demise or of most of our so called official leaders.
I think the demise of the Indian leader that most registered in my heart and mind was that of the late Samy Velu, who died a couple of years back, but I think that too was mostly because made me laugh with many of his quips, about “hisap dada” and “derma dara” and “Kerja orang gila”, more than because I thought he was a great man that came from our community.
I have never mourned the death of an underworld figure – I think a lot of our underworld figures might be impressive tactically, but they have no strategy, and like Sun Tzu said, “tactics without strategy is just the noise before certain defeat” – but I can understand why our youths are impressed and admiring of underworld figures and gangsters.
Everybody in the world wants to be a winner.
Nobody in the world admires losers who just talks and laments and complaints and gives advice and defeats not their opponents, but their own people, and then pat themselves on the back as if they are such good people just because they talked, complained, gave advice, lamented and put down their own people.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
For all their flaws, a gangster has one thing admirable about them – at least they are willing to step into the arena and win what they want in life, despite the risk and danger.
I believe that a winner without a principle is a monster, and I believe that is the job of all righteous men in this world to hunt monsters, but if you take righteousness and righteous men out of the equation, and ask me whether it is better to be a monster or a coward who doesn’t even step into the arena, but just expects everybody to listen and admire you because you are not a monster, I think it is better to be a monster.
I am with Gandhi on this.
“Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice.”
That our youths and young people are celebrating gangsters and underworld figures, is a sign that they are desperate for a winner to emerge from our community. They are so desperate for a winner to emerge from our community, they are even willing to admire gangsters and underworld figures.
Our youths and young people need somebody who is strong enough, humble enough, capable enough and confident enough to step into the arena and win glory, power, prize, wealth, admiration and status, to look up to.
We are tired of listening to our weak leaders who keep patting themselves on the back and claim that they are good people who have done a lot to uplift our community, although we don’t feel that they have done much or anything. Worse, we have been betrayed one too many times by leaders who claim that they are uplifting the community, but later on were found out to just be using the excuse of uplifting the community, to uplift themselves, to the point that whenever we see a leader fighting for the community, we can’t help but suspect that the leader is just trying to get close to us by pretending that they are such good people, so that they can use our trust to lift themselves up, while betraying us.
Rather than have these sorts of cowards and losers who pretend to be good in order to betray their own people in pursuit of their self-interest, it is no wonder that our community admires gangsters and underworld figures.
The gangsters and underworld figures might be monsters without principles, but at least they are still winners who dare to step into the arena and win the wealth, glory, admiration, power and status that all of us want.
Between these violent monsters and cowardly losers, it is still the violent monsters that are the ones worth admiring more, and our youths and young people are indeed proving that in reality today.
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kt remarks:
Some politicians are/were like gangsters - One exists now on the global stage, wakakaka.
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