We were born in this country not because we wanted to, but it was decided by our parents who accepted citizenship given to them to reside here. So we are bonafide 2nd , 3rd and 4th generation Malaysians of Indian origin.
We have rights and we adhere to the Constitution of Malaysia. Although article 153 protects the rights of bumiputeras, we never once questioned their rights, we were happy with what we have achieved and rightfully slogged to earn keep.
We did not seek merit for us or our children, we gave our best to educate and bring up our children. We were the lucky lot, we left the estates and the second generation managed to churn a living away from the estates.
The same cannot be said of the majority of our Malaysian Indians brothers who delayed their stay in the estates for want a roof over their heads and a megre but steady income, and today they are suffering the consequences.
The estates were taken over by foreigners, mostly Bangladeshis and Indonesians, who were willing to work for less and Indians were forced to leave the estates but at the wrong time. With a bleak future they cuddled to nearby towns and squattered.
Thus started the squatter colony mostly populated by poor Indians in major towns, and eventually they were a problem, so said the ruling government. The MIC, the government’s spokesperson keeps telling the Indians that they are solving the problem, but they keep hijacking aid given by the government ti line their own pockets.
A very good example is the hijack of the millions of Telekoms Berhad shares given to Indians and the Maika share scandal (was purchased by majority of estate dwellers), which after 30 years was sold below purchased value (Where in the world have shares guaranteed by the ruling government dipped below the purchase price after 30 years of rotation?)
The MIC keeps blaming the Indians for social problems relating to gangsterism or other ills like alcoholism, (luckily Aids and drugs were not our big problem). My question is who made them thus, they were just simple people living on daily needs, they did not fight back or ask for anything from the government , they lived peacefully in the estates.
But in the urban jungle, it is a struggle everyday, they lost out on a headstart, they were not given the opportunity to move forward. Why? Because the constitution did not protect them at all even though there were provisions for it. They were let down by the ruling government’s partner MIC.
I still remember Mahathir’s words when he said Samy Vellu never fought to help the poor Indians. How true this is, only God knows. Luckily for them, many struggled hard and have managed to crawl back and are living dignified lives.
This is evident in all major towns, both men and women have landed jobs in factories, and taken menial jobs that pay decent wages, on an average earning at least RM1,200 per month. It is not much but it keeps them going, only a very small percentage of these people are still struggling below poverty line, mainly due to lack of understanding.
These people will need genuine NGOs’ to help them on their feet, and there are many NGOs trying to do good for these people. I hope they will not give up on these people (MIC will not help, I repeat MIC will not help).
One of them was Hindraf although they did not support them financially, they created a tremendous awareness of the plight of the Indians not only in Malaysia but abroad…the suing of the British Government is a classic example of the awareness created by Hindraf to plight of the Indians.
We did not asked to be born in Malaysia we were brought here and promised a birthright, I hope teachers in government schools or other government servants will not tell us to BALIK India , this is the country we accepted as our birthright, this will be our country too.
Daily I read about foreigners given citizenship and the right to vote easily, this is something that is not right if it is true (it could be true, it happened in Sabah during Mahathir’s era). I still remember my mother who was born in Malaya in 1931 did not have citizenship until 1968. She was 37 years old, and she was a government servant too, she still receives her pension.
My father received his citizenship in 1958 just after Merdeka and my brother and I had to wait till my mother got her citizenship before our IC’s turned blue, that was the system then, before the computer era, all data has to be archived and it was time consuming, and it was the system introduced by the British. There was no corruption.
According to my mother the person who issued her citizenship was an Indian officer and he was very strict asking her all sorts of questions before issuing her the citizenship, so it was not easy to get a a citizenship even though you were born in Malaya then.
Talking about system, my father told me once that he was denied to vote because he didn’t bring along his address card after he changed his address from Ulu Yam to Jinjang. I still remember those days I had to carry an address card for any official business. even banking.
The card is issued at the IC office or at post offices throughout Malaysia, but today I hear that voters are shifted and added according to the whims and fancies of the powers that be. How can this be done. Where is the system? It looks like the situation is different today, foreigners are offered citizenship for votes.
This will only make Indians 4th class or 5th class citizens. We are about two million Indians mainly in Peninsula Malaysia, will we have a voice? Yes! is the answer. We are well distributed in many constituents and our every vote counts.
The country has been ruled by one government for 54 years (the longest ruling party in a democratic country in the world) and we were shortchanged, are we going to allow it to continue or we are going to say, ‘No’ .
The future of our society is in our hands. We have to rise up and voice out. We need to show and, if possible, lead the way. This is my plea to all children. It is your future that we as parents care.
It is going to be your generation that will carry the light for future generations of Indians to carry our heads up high. God has not forsaken us, he has given us the intelligence to be above all.
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