Disdain - enemy of the Indian marginalized

Maybe we should start off with a couple of definitions for this post, as follows:

(a) Hate - to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme hostility toward

(b) Disdain - to look upon or treat with contempt; despise; scorn

They sound the same but in fact are different.

One can hate someone yet may fear or even respect him/her. But one cannot respect nor fear someone who is viewed with disdain.

This brings me to the question on the lot of Indian Malaysians today. I have no doubt many Malaysians of all ethnicities but particularly the Indians hate the police for the latter's brutal treatment of citizens, many times unto their deaths while in custody or even without. But to be fair to the police, not every of them are brutal or have behaved like the Ugly ferocious beast in Malaysia.

But as I once posted, the worst oppressors of a race would usually be found within the same race, some in overt form, many as spies for the master oppressor.

That's one of the reasons (only one, mind you) for the Israelis coming on top of the Palestinians, because the Israelis have the necessary intelligence gained from Palestinian sources to hit at whatever, whenever and wherever the Palestinians may be planning. 

Thus it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that once the Palestinian source of information can be closed off the Israelis will have a lot of problems anticipating the opposition attacks. Anyway, let's leave this for today as it's not the main issue being discussed in this post.

As for the overt variety, my family told me that during the Japanese occupations of both China and Malaya-Singapore, some of the worst oppressors of the Chinese were some Chinese appointed by the Japanese invaders. I have a personal story to tell one day about one such Chinese oppressor in wartime Malaya who, would you believe, was my kampung neighbour but again let's leave that for another day.

Wang Jinwei, the face of treachery

The most notorious Chinese oppressor of Chinese in China was Wang Jinwei. Fortunately for him, he died before the Japanese lost the war or he would have been physically ripped apart by Chinese. Today his name is a byword in China for treachery.

In India, the name of Mir Jafar was equally notorious as the man who sold the Indians to the British East India Company for his avaricious interests, but it was a treacherous act which led to the total colonization of India. Like Wang Jinwei is in China, his name is a byword for treachery in India.

Of course today some traditional (so-called) arch traitors like Judas Iscariot and Hang Jebat are viewed rather differently by people with less indoctrinated and better-informed values and perspectives.

But back to contemporary Malaysia - it's said that some of the worst oppressors of Indian Malaysians in custody are in fact Indian police officers. I cannot verify this rumour but my uncle told me of an incident in Alor Setar some thirty years ago to show the brutality of one Indian police inspector.

That particular inspector was terribly notorious even among his police colleagues as a very brutal bully. Apart from his intrinsic oppressive nature, he must have a disdain for those he brutalized, perhaps explaining why he treated them with utter contempt in his acts of violence.

One day he made the humongous mistake of walloping a Royal Malay Regiment soldier who was in Alor Setar town during the evening. When the soldier returned to his barracks all battered and blue, a number of his angry soldier mates armed themselves to the teeth and drove up to the police station where he was brutalized, surrounded the place and demanded the police inspector come out to meet them.

He wisely declined wakakaka, and the soldiers then started spraying bullets (fortunately just) over the station as an indication of their determination to have their demand met.

Of course they weren't that stupid as to shoot and kill him but they certainly wanted to lay their hands on him as payback for their brutalized mate. But he probably would have been severely pulverized by the angry soldiers to his death if he had foolishly emerged. The bully, to his credit, wisely became a timid coward for self preservation.

Frantic phone calls were made by the senior police officers in Alor Setar to KL, and apparently the Chief of the Army (then called Chief of General Staff) was forced to intervene by ordering the soldiers back to barrack, while the IGP supposedly dealt with the brute.

The point of this story is that some people in positions of power like the Indian police inspector did not (and probably still don't) know how to handle their powers, and frequently abused those powers, such as recklessly perpetrating acts of violence against their victims, regrettably in unrestrained fashion, believing they would be immune to the laws. My uncle had observed this lamentable behaviour also among some military officers when he was serving in the Armed Forces.

When Indian Malaysians turned up dead in police station repetitively, one wonders who had/have been their violators (and not all would be Indian police officers), and why they have been regarded with such a disdain generally different from that for other ethnic groups.

Certainly their social status as the very poor could well be a contributory factor as authorities lamentably have a feudal disrespect (and disdain) for the social marginalized and downtrodden.

But I believe there must be other factors that might have led some to believe Indian Malaysians were/are easy meat and convenient punching bags, where we learnt of one such recent victim who even had his ears and ankles STAPLED by his oppressor(s).

Tortured before his death
52 injuries on his body

In my previous post Hindu Gods are angry? I admit I have been naughty in my scenario-izing and allusions to the supernatural, but I did that because I wanted to remind everyone of Waythamoorthy's fasting in an Indian temple for Hindraf's political aims and his virtually obscene jump from that holy fast immediately into the arms of Najib, preparing even to drop the issue of Indian deaths in police custody from his so-called Hindraf basic demands.

Also see Malaysiakini's Kula: Following three deaths in 11 days, Waytha has to go in which M Kulasegaran, DAP VP, said: “Now we can see why Prime Minister Najib Razak required PHM to drop the halt to custodial deaths demand.”

Thus it was my naughty and facetious highlighting of 'other-world' involvements in order to portray Waythamoorthy's readiness to have faith in the traditional oppressor of Indians against that of his faith in the Hindu gods via his 'spiritual' journey through fasting for the salvation of Indians.