The Indian Dilemma

I bought the Hindraf DVD outlining this blueprint on Thaipusam day and watched it. I watched it along with my mother. My mom always watches the programme Vizhuthugal on Astro Vaanavil and TV2 Tamil news where BN blows it's own trumpet that it is a caring government doling out goodies and the proposed national celebration of Ponggal. I stopped listening to and reading mainstream news a long time ago whilst my mother depends on it for information of the goings on.  

Basically, in that DVD, Hindraf had outlined its six-point blueprint during the group’s fifth year anniversary celebration last November.

The six points are:

1) Stop displacing Indian plantation workers and provide reasonable compensation as well as offer skills training to them;

2) Resolve Indian stateless issue;

3) Provide equal education opportunities to all Indian students via meritocracy;

4) Provide equal job and business opportunities to Indians;

5) Stop police brutality and death in custody, and set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC); and

6) Stop institutionalised racism and ratify United Nations convention against racial discrimination.

With all that said and heard one day, my mom came up to me and said that BN seems to care for Indians with all the feel good festivities organizing and goodies galore and told me that she would vote for BN since BN seems to have repented. She is also sizably concerned about riotous skirmishes that might take place if PR takes seat in Putrajaya.

Now, this is the problem of Indians here, the Indian dilemma, prevalent especially among the aged and those in rural areas, my mother included. We tend to settle for temporary provisions and succumb to gratification when our festivals are given hype. We have a short memory and are driven by gratitude which is knowingly preyed on by the ruling coalition. And, fear mongering is another factor that would make unthinking Indians become BN's vote repository again.

The dilemma of Indians here is that they are happy if they are given a fish a day rather than learning the skill of fishing and upgrade the skill in order to develop themselves and BN is capitalizing on this stumble of ours. This trait alone befits the claim that Indians are pathetic beggars. Why get angry when others call us beggars when we act like beggars?

Indians here don't have ahead of time and critical thinking. Our kids don't get seats in public universities scholarships despite being more than qualified, their spirits, crushed, ambition, quelled, potential and capability, repressed and yet for a meager RM 500, a packet of rice, few cans of sardine and other groceries and a nationwide Ponggal celebration and we are already more than willing to lick the boots of BN goons and cast our votes to the very political entity that pretty much denied our existence and our contribution of building Malaysia for the past 55 long years.

These goodies galore and the celebrations are nothing but kiss ass gestures to gain the canvass of the Indian community back for BN. We must ask ourselves, why only now BN has come up with the term Nambikei and is giving us a literal yet non sustainable windfall? What were they smoking in the period of 55 years of rule? Why only after failure of getting 2/3rd majority is BN paying attention to Indians and why is the handouts parcel out executed so close to the General Election? Is it because they had a sudden enlightenment? Is it because they have turned on a new leaf and sincerely want to serve the Indian community? HELL, NO! BN is doing this for its own political survival and this Nambikei thingy and the splurge are their 11th hour attempts. It is do or die. Najib wants to preserve his position as PM; that is his only motive. If Najib is truly sincere to uplift the Indian community sincerely he should have implemented long term nitty gritty uplifting policies and supplementary monetary aid the minute he got sworn in as our PM, in genuine and impartial parallel with his 1Malaysia policy. Why he didn't do it? Why wait until so close to 13th GE to do so? You do the math.

A bag of 5kg rice with Najib's photo on the bag, lucky draws and lots of Kollywood movies are good enough for Indians to sell their future. I still remember, in 2008, TV2 aired the Tamil movie Mozhi as the 12th GE went on. I remember being angry at BN for thinking that with the airing of Kollywood movies, Indian votes will go to BN. I won't blame BN for thinking of Indians as cheap; we have showed that we are cheap and mindless for voting for BN in exchange for peanuts.  That is what we have been doing for 55 years. 

Kowtowing MIC have failed the Indians, the very people it represents. Time to change the ballgame. The time is ripe to say to either BN or PR, whichever holds the reins of the nation that "I demand, you listen and give me what I want because I am your boss. I put you where you are to serve me and there are no two ways about it. You under perform and watch me kick you out in the next election." It is time for a populist statecraft be launched in Malaysia. 

And the money Najib is throwing at us is not his appan veetu sotthu. It is the tax payers' money, the people's money, OUR money. And as a PM, it is his job to look after the people. We pay his salary; he is our servant. Ever heard of a subordinate idolize himself to his boss? That is how silly it is and Najib adulates himself shamelessly and we are accepting this silliness as a rightful thing. Again, only in Malaysia. So guys, my fellow Indians, who are you going to vote for this time around? Me, the OBVIOUS!