Sunday, May 10, 2009

Advice to P Uthayakumar

Malaysiakini photo (inclusive of chart below)

Malaysiakini - Uthaya goes home to hero's welcome!

kaytee is happy Uthayakumar has been released from the clutches of the draconian ISA. I have been very sympathetic and supportive of Hindraf right at the very beginning, when Hindraf wasn’t then fashionable ;-)

I even attempted an ode to Hindraf which I posted as
25 November 2007.

Also see my post late last year Priority 1 - free RPK & Hindraf 5!

Uthayakumar has become a hero to many Malaysians and not just Indians, which is a reflection of our admiration for his courageous endurance and unchanging stand to struggle for the uplifting of his poor kinfolk.

But as we know, there’s a season for everything, and even Hindraf is subjected to this universal nature.

Therefore I would advise Uthayakumar and his brother Waythamoorthy to consider that Hindraf as a Hindu movement may have outlived its usefulness.


For continued relevance, it must now transform or metamorphose into a human rights or even political movement for the downtrodden of every Malaysian, and not just Hindu Indian Malaysians.

To be quite frank, I haven’t also been impressed by Uthayakumar’s statement in Malaysiakini that “There is a joke that the Chinese want to form Chindraf and Jemaah Islamiah may form Jindraf - people are riding on Hindraf’s popularity.”

I hope he was only joking but if he wasn’t, let me assure him that Chinese Malaysians in general aren't interested in a solely-Chinese Chinraf. My dear Uthaya, race-based politics is so passé ler. Even the racists shy away from being labelled as such wakakaka!

Besides, it would be self defeating and the height of hypocrisy for Chinese to condemn UMNO while fantasizing about a Chinraf.

And the reality is Chinese Malaysians aren’t so enamoured with street protests and braving chemical-laced 'rain' (Tian Chua excepted). Mind you, they would use the ballot box cleverly, which after all is their legitimate and democratic right to exercise, which they had done powerfully so!

If Uthayakumar had laughed at the recent formation of another Indian-based party, Mindraf, then I wonder how he could at the same time talk about turning Hindraf into a political party.

Look at MIC, the biggest Indian party there is/was in Malaya/Malaysia. Ask yourself what power did they actually wield for Indian Malaysians in the last 50 years?


Yes, one can argue that the problem was in their leaders being corrupt, compliant and cringing, so OK, allow for those negaive traits, and then tell me what had been MIC's real bargaining power vis-à-vis UMNO?

Look at IPF, PPP (admittedly not solely Indian-based), and whatever other Indian parties there are – what good is their presence as mere mosquito parties? Yes, mere mosquito parties!

Now consider Uthaya's fellow Hindraf colleague, M Manoharan, an elected DAP ADUN in the state constituency of Shah Alam Bandar. The ethnic breakdown there in March 2008 was:


Chinese – 58.1%
Indians – 23.3%
Malays – 17.1%

Do you think Manoharan could have won that seat with 70% of the votes against a Gerakan Chinese bloke if he was representing only Hindus?

OK, perhaps yes, certainly in March 2008 I concede anyone could have won easily so long as he/she wasn’t BN. But just how long do you think a Hindu-based party will fare against a BN in the years to come, say in the same constituency we have just used as a model?

The answer is clear that if Uthayakumar is interested in helping his economically and socially marginalized kinfolk through a more active role in politics, then he should take his followers into one of the big political multi-racial parties.

I would recommend DAP but then ;-) I suppose I’m biased.

But seriously, Uthayakumar should examine how DAP has junjung tinggi (hold high in respect) members such as Karpal Singh (plus sons), Prof Rama, Kulasegaran, Sivakumar, Manoharan, etc. Look at the history of the DAP which had people like Devan Nair, Patto, Peter Dason!

11 comments:

  1. Yeah, absolutely right.

    Uthay and Waytha should all drop the Hindu and Indian initials from Hindraf. There's no percentage in playing the religion and race cards post GE 2008.

    And they can't make that charge of Genocide stick and should quickly apologise and drop it! A Statesman-like approach by them will go a long way to healing the current tension on both sides of the M'sian Malay-Indian divide.

    They should concentrate on a new party that is open to all and that adresses the problems of the marginalised and middle to poor income groups.

    They can still take up issues pertaining to conversions and temples etc, but it need not be on a platform of Hindu/Indian, but on inalienable human rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

    The mere involvement of Uthay & Waytha will assure Indians that their interests will not be pushed to the bottom of the drawer!
    http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

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  2. Dear Ktemoc

    If I were uthayakumaran I completely ignore your advice. You are not a politician.
    Politics is about emotion first(religion and race)
    You may think you are rational but you will turn into irrational being once you are subjected to fear and anger.
    Uthayakumar is a great politician at the present time just as Gandhi was when the British were ruling India.
    Go ahead Uthay, Bush used religion, Blair is catholic every politician worth his salt uses religion
    Long live makkal sakthi

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  3. Whatever Uthay and Waytha do in future, just don't join the PPP

    http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Frontpage/2553120/Article/index_html

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  4. Well KT,I got to disagree on this point as I known his for years.

    This guy was given to high drama and can be best described as the Indian vesion of Anwar Ibrahim.

    He was lucky to managed to ride on the wave of Indian anger and use it to orchestrate the mass demo on the 25th Nov. He just doesnt have the credibility or even the personality to lead a legitimate group. All he knows is to make fantastical statements to rouse ethnic sentiments.

    I think his release will come as a big blow for Pakatan's Indian leaders who had hijacked Makkal Sakthi in Uthaya's absence and abused it to get political support. But after coming to pwer they did nothing. In fact the recent fiasco at Bkt Selambau is an example how Indian leaders in Pakatan clearly stuck to their political master than being loyal to the struggle they fought for before 0308.

    In any case, whether Utahya is in Pakatan or not, it will be difficult for Pakatan. One, his release will remove one of the major issue that the Indian PR leaders used against BN. 2ndly, with Uthaya' back, there is no leadership that can be exploited.

    Thirdly,Uthaya will be a thorn on their side demanding all sort of things from the 4 Pakatan run states.

    Finally, Pakatan no longer able to count Makkal sakthi's support since Uthaya will remove the PR's pseudo leaders from MS.

    For me, Uthaya can join any PR parties he likes. Heck, he can even join PAS.

    Personally, I detest him and his misguided racist thugs. Had this guy not been held under ISA, it was a matter of time that there would have been racial clashes between Indians and the Malays as this racist has been raising the temperature of Indians to an unbearable level with some unbelievable accusations.

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  5. Convert to a Mamak and join UMNO
    Wakakakakkakakka !

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  6. Convert to a Mamak and join UMNO? Hey, that's what kayvez is planning to do

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  7. kayvez ? Kayveas (PPP) or Kaytee ? which is which ??
    Kaytee Ong bin Abdullah

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  8. Mamak Hitam Zombie11:48 am, May 11, 2009

    Yes, you can even by the Chief Mamak or Mamak Besar (CM or MB) if you are a Mamak (logical ain't it?). Anyway, Mamaks are usually more rabidly racist than the indigeneous Malays. In the not too distant future, all MB positions in Malaysia will be taken up by Mamaks. Even Malays will be deprived. You just watch and see.

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  9. Mamak Mahathir2:11 pm, May 11, 2009

    Mamak Hitam Zombie

    korek! korek ! korek!

    Chief Mamak or Mamak Besar (CM or MB)tambah Perdana Mamak (PM ) Pembohong Mamak ! We already had one ! Ini di panggil "two in one" !Tak lama lagi its " three in one " macam nescafe !

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  10. Mamak Hitam Zombie5:11 pm, May 11, 2009

    Alamak! Mahkamah Tinggi kate aku Mamak Besar je... Menteri Besar tu... lain org!!! P___ Mak Mamak! Katne aku nak tarok muke ku ni?? Takpelah, aku ni Mamak kulit tebal: memang tak tahu malu. Mari kite berpure-pure yg keadaan cam biase je, dan suasane Mei 7 tak pernah jadi...

    Kakakakaka! (Mamak gile kuase dah jadi gile plak!) Kakakakaka!

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  11. kt,

    how about GERAKAN. surely, this party need somebody with cojones to helm the party.

    oops, no helm, ok KT.

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