KKB polls: Indians and the futility of voting
S Thayaparan
Published: May 2, 2024 8:04 AM
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” - Martin Luther King Jr
COMMENT | If you want to understand why it really does not matter if Indians vote or who they vote for in the upcoming Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, look no further than at Selangor exco V Papparaidu, who used bureaucratic legerdemain to placate the grievances of Indian estate workers from five plantations around Hulu Selangor.
If these were different people backed by economic and electoral power the response would have been much different. With these people, the road is long. It’s normally a party like PSM, which does not get votes but does the hard work, that sticks around.
For example, PSM settled the housing issue of 393 families from four estates in Dengkil.
“The houses are expected to be completed in October. BN and Pakatan Harapan had a hand in the project but it was PSM and its movement that helped bring the matter to their attention and demand action,” PSM stalwart S Arutchelvan said in 2023.
This is just one example of the sometimes decades-long struggles that PSM has been involved with but as Arutchelvan said: “We nominated a candidate in Dengkil and they are surprised to know that we are a political party.
“PSM members do a lot of groundwork but are very bad at marketing ourselves.”
Published: May 2, 2024 8:04 AM
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” - Martin Luther King Jr
COMMENT | If you want to understand why it really does not matter if Indians vote or who they vote for in the upcoming Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, look no further than at Selangor exco V Papparaidu, who used bureaucratic legerdemain to placate the grievances of Indian estate workers from five plantations around Hulu Selangor.
If these were different people backed by economic and electoral power the response would have been much different. With these people, the road is long. It’s normally a party like PSM, which does not get votes but does the hard work, that sticks around.
For example, PSM settled the housing issue of 393 families from four estates in Dengkil.
“The houses are expected to be completed in October. BN and Pakatan Harapan had a hand in the project but it was PSM and its movement that helped bring the matter to their attention and demand action,” PSM stalwart S Arutchelvan said in 2023.
This is just one example of the sometimes decades-long struggles that PSM has been involved with but as Arutchelvan said: “We nominated a candidate in Dengkil and they are surprised to know that we are a political party.
“PSM members do a lot of groundwork but are very bad at marketing ourselves.”
PSM’s S Arutchelvan
If PSM can accomplish things like these, is Papparaidu really going to tell these estate workers that with all the political power DAP has at a state and federal level and its corporate connections, the party and the Indian political operatives within it cannot resolve their housing issue in a timely manner?
SD refusal
Do you know why all these political operatives do not want to sign a statutory declaration (SD) to fulfil all the promises made to the Hulu Selangor plantation workers as they requested? It is because they do not want a public reminder of their apathy or inaction.
If Harapan thought its manifesto was not worth the paper it was printed on, does anyone really think that they would put their names to something they know they could resolve but for reasons known only to the political and corporate class, they could not be bothered to do?
I keep saying this. I truly believe voting is the least a citizen can do in a democratic society. However, what is the point of the Indian vote in this by-election? To prop up the establishment? I am talking about Harapan and PN here.
If this was a PKR candidate I am sure there would be a louder chorus to throw the Harapan candidate under the bus but since this is a DAP seat, people are tripping over themselves to justify why voting is essential to maintain the status quo.
Do you want PN to take over? Aren’t they already taking over by proxy?
It’s not that hard
What I really do not get is that these Indian issues are practical and should be easy to resolve.
Do not believe people who spout such horse manure that these are complex issues. No, they are not.
They become complex because of the connective tissue between corporate and political power. Unfortunately, Indian issues such as these are always under the yoke of the political and corporate class.
If PSM can accomplish things like these, is Papparaidu really going to tell these estate workers that with all the political power DAP has at a state and federal level and its corporate connections, the party and the Indian political operatives within it cannot resolve their housing issue in a timely manner?
SD refusal
Do you know why all these political operatives do not want to sign a statutory declaration (SD) to fulfil all the promises made to the Hulu Selangor plantation workers as they requested? It is because they do not want a public reminder of their apathy or inaction.
If Harapan thought its manifesto was not worth the paper it was printed on, does anyone really think that they would put their names to something they know they could resolve but for reasons known only to the political and corporate class, they could not be bothered to do?
I keep saying this. I truly believe voting is the least a citizen can do in a democratic society. However, what is the point of the Indian vote in this by-election? To prop up the establishment? I am talking about Harapan and PN here.
If this was a PKR candidate I am sure there would be a louder chorus to throw the Harapan candidate under the bus but since this is a DAP seat, people are tripping over themselves to justify why voting is essential to maintain the status quo.
Do you want PN to take over? Aren’t they already taking over by proxy?
It’s not that hard
What I really do not get is that these Indian issues are practical and should be easy to resolve.
Do not believe people who spout such horse manure that these are complex issues. No, they are not.
They become complex because of the connective tissue between corporate and political power. Unfortunately, Indian issues such as these are always under the yoke of the political and corporate class.
One of the points in the SD as sighted by Malaysiakini was “that the new Kuala Kubu Baharu assemblyperson deal only with legitimate residents’ committees they have mandated, instead of ‘cronies or representatives of political parties and employers’”.
Do you know why these Hulu Selangor plantation workers and whoever helped them craft this SD are determined on this point? DAP’s RSN Rayer gives us the answer in his attack against former ally and now adversary P Ramasamy.
“Ramasamy and his sidekicks should all look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves where they would be now without DAP and Harapan,” he said. This is it right here.
Ex-DAP leader P Ramasamy
Political operatives, including Ramasamy, are either beholden or at war with their political parties. This is about political survival and relevancy and not about the plight of disenfranchised Indians.
Indians especially around election time are there to be used or lectured to but when the election is over, they will be thrown under the bus.
Nobody should talk about principles when you are thanking Umno and MIC for helping you win an election. Nobody should talk about principles when you have rejected reforms that you were voted in for.
Nobody should talk about principles when your coalition members engineer racial and religious discord and you are silent about it.
MIC still believes that voters must prove their loyalty to political parties. Is this the kind of sentiment that DAP wants to cultivate? Maybe it already has.
Who really cares?
PN does not care about the Indian community, other than understanding that their support especially in close races could be crucial, and they are also the low-hanging fruit for religious assimilation, especially disenfranchised Indians.
Anwar Ibrahim for a myriad of reasons enjoyed extremely healthy support from the Indian community. But these days, as prime minister, he and Harapan are slowly but surely losing support from the community.
Political operatives, including Ramasamy, are either beholden or at war with their political parties. This is about political survival and relevancy and not about the plight of disenfranchised Indians.
Indians especially around election time are there to be used or lectured to but when the election is over, they will be thrown under the bus.
Nobody should talk about principles when you are thanking Umno and MIC for helping you win an election. Nobody should talk about principles when you have rejected reforms that you were voted in for.
Nobody should talk about principles when your coalition members engineer racial and religious discord and you are silent about it.
MIC still believes that voters must prove their loyalty to political parties. Is this the kind of sentiment that DAP wants to cultivate? Maybe it already has.
Who really cares?
PN does not care about the Indian community, other than understanding that their support especially in close races could be crucial, and they are also the low-hanging fruit for religious assimilation, especially disenfranchised Indians.
Anwar Ibrahim for a myriad of reasons enjoyed extremely healthy support from the Indian community. But these days, as prime minister, he and Harapan are slowly but surely losing support from the community.
PM Anwar Ibrahim
These days, Anwar seems more interested in bullying a young student who asks him genuine questions about educational opportunities or presiding over a conversion ceremony of a young Indian convert.
And what do factotums from DAP want working-class Indians to do? Just be patient.
As long as organisations like PSM are around, there will always be a long arduous road to voice their grievances and, of course, possible resolutions.
So if the way is long and arduous but that’s the way you are going, my question is simple - why should these Indians vote?
These days, Anwar seems more interested in bullying a young student who asks him genuine questions about educational opportunities or presiding over a conversion ceremony of a young Indian convert.
And what do factotums from DAP want working-class Indians to do? Just be patient.
As long as organisations like PSM are around, there will always be a long arduous road to voice their grievances and, of course, possible resolutions.
So if the way is long and arduous but that’s the way you are going, my question is simple - why should these Indians vote?
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
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