“This is Malaysia, not Tamil Nadu,” Malaysia’s de facto justice minister is known to have snapped on being told that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi of India’s Tamil Nadu state had complained about the treatment of ethnic Indians, mostly Tamils, who held protest demonstrations recently in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Karunanidhi should worry about his own state which “has got problems,” the minister reportedly stated.
The vitriol had less to do with diplomatic offence over intervention in internal matters, and more to do with the defensiveness that comes to the fore whenever Malaysia is reminded of its attitude towards its ethnic minorities. In 2005, the Chinese government had summoned Malaysia’s ambassador in Beijing over the treatment of Chinese people following the mistreatment of a Chinese woman in police custody. A Malaysian minister later had to apologise for saying that “foreigners” who objected to police behaviour may “please go back to their own countries.”
Countless teargas canisters and water cannons were fired on a reportedly 10,000-strong rally of ethnic Indians as it attempted to march to the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. The police used extreme levels of force to arrest more than 240 of the protesters. The group, organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), had gathered near the famous Petronas Towers before the planned march to the Commission to demand reparations from the United Kingdom for sending Indians to Malaysia to work as labourers under colonial rule. However, it is widely acknowledged that their real protest was against discriminatory measures of the Malaysian government, which exclude them from job opportunities and leave them confined to a life of poverty.
In reporting the events, the largely state-controlled media has insinuated that the protests were as a result of HINDRAF misleading the ethnic Indian population. However, “when thousands of people take to the streets, definitely something is wrong.” Professor Khoo Kay Kim, commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), said the rally reflected “the disgruntlement of the Indian community” and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim considered it “a safety valve for long smoldering Indian Malaysian grievances.”
The racial divide
Ethnic Indians make up eight percent of Malaysia’s population. Ethnic Malays comprise about 60 percent while ethnic Chinese are 25 percent of the population. One of the key gripes of the HINDRAF protesters was the failure of the British Reid Commission Report of 1957, at the time of independence, to incorporate rights for the Indian community. Their concerns were valid. The source of marginalisation and discrimination in Malaysia today can be traced directly back to independence, which brought with it the recognition of a raft of special rights for the Malay population. These rights covered most aspects of life: from property ownership (special land rights) to employment (rights in relation to admission to public services and issuance of licences to operate particular businesses) and education (the right to scholarships and bursaries), Malays had preferential treatment.
Post-independence, Malaysia has been plagued with a never-ending stream of consecutive laws which divide the population along racial lines and ensure continuing preference for Malays. The first of these sets of laws was the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1971. Introduced in response to race riots in 1969, the NEP entrenched a policy of affirmative action in favour of ‘Bumiputras’ (‘Sons of the Soil’). The NEP included: the requirement that 30 percent of corporate equity be owned by Bumiputras in order for a company to be listed on the Stock Exchange; a quota for a certain percentage of housing on new developments to be only available to Bumiputra buyers and for them to receive a seven percent discount; and certain projects to be open only to Malay contractors.
Whilst the NEP lapsed in 1990, it has been continually reintroduced under other guises: the National Development Policy (NDP) made sure it continued until 2000. Most recently, the Ninth Malaysia Plan ensures affirmative action for Bumiputras until 2020, something that the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), the party that leads the ruling coalition government, prides itself on. Thus the policy of affirmative action for Bumiputras is now entrenched deep at the heart of Malaysian society.
Understanding the protests
Sidelined by this affirmative action, The Far Eastern Economic Review reports, “Malaysia’s Indians are at the bottom of the country’s social and economic scale.” And history has not been on their side. The vast majority of the ethnic Indian population of Malaysia was brought to the country by the British in colonial times to work as indentured labourers on rubber plantations. They now account for seven percent of the Malaysian population (according to UNDP statistics) and whilst some work in city employment as engineers, IT specialists, doctors etc, the vast majority are still uneducated agricultural workers. The reliance on plantation work by the majority of Malaysian Indians has led to increased poverty as plantations have been closed down leaving many people homeless and forcing others to resort to relocating to urban areas.
A detailed study into the socio-economic position of Indian Malaysians by the independent Educational, Welfare and Research Foundation Malaysia (EWRF) paints a bleak picture. Economically, official poverty levels of the ethnic group, unlike the consistently decreasing levels for both Bumiputras and Chinese have remained depressingly stagnant over recent years and Indians have the lowest life expectancy of all the major race groups. Thirty percent of Malaysia’s Indians do not own their own property, compared with the national average of 25.2 percent for Malays and 17.6 percent for Chinese. Moreover, it has been reported that Indian population, though making up roughly 7-8 percent of the population, controls only 1.5 percent of the economy.
On a social level, EWRF’s report also highlights the high levels of crime by Malaysian Indians, pointing out the direct link between crime and inequality. A report by The Economist, also picks up the point, explaining that Indians make up 14 percent of the country’s youth offenders. They also account for 54 percent of those currently held under preventive detention laws. With government threats to use the Internal Security Act (ISA) in relation to some of Sunday’s protesters, this statistic looks likely to increase.
To put the protest in context, such political outbursts are rare in a country which has successfully implemented a system of divide and rule. The coalition, fronted by the UMNO, is made up of parties divided on racial lines from the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) to the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). These parties have found their success on preaching to the ethnic line and their promises to represent their various racial groups, whilst proving to be hollow, have generally prevented any unrest. Nevertheless, the racial separation permeates all aspects of society. For example, Dr Soong has drawn attention to a study by the Universiti Malaya which shows that “98 percent of Malay students do not mix with non-Malays, while 99 per cent of Chinese students, and 97 percent of Indian students do not mingle with other races.” This situation can only threaten to become explosive when one of the groups is treated advantageously.
Numerous government representatives have spoken out in response to the rally, all condemning the actions of the protesters in the strongest terms: a situation which is, at best, bizarre, considering the willingness of the British High Commission itself to entertain the requests of the group. Of the 240 people originally arrested reportedly 80 have now been charged with “taking part in an illegal rally.” The UMNO has even, in a classic case of overreaction and heavy handedness, said that it has not ruled out the possibility of implementing the draconian measures of Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA) against those held in relation to the protest.
The current lack of interest in Malaysia’s racist policies by the international community is nothing short of shameful. In India, the central government kept quiet until outbursts by Parliament members from Tamil Nadu compelled the prime minister to state that New Delhi would take up the issue with Kuala Lumpur. “This is a matter which does concern us,” the prime minister said.
Internationally, Malaysia’s record on race issues is abysmal. On last count, it was one of only 19 United Nations members that have not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Indeed it has ratified a total of only two human rights treaties. However, despite this Malaysia has a seat on the Human Rights Council and is treated at the least cordially by most key UN members. This in itself shows either blindness on the part of the UN or an unwillingness to accept the reality that Malaysia has a long way to go in terms of upholding the human rights of its minorities.
Malaysia has a problem. It would do well to recognise it.
South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC
PEOPLE'S POWER
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