There are small sections in Malaysian society who are not getting their fair share of the cake. They are Malays, Chinese, Indians and many others. Life is unfair for half of the world's population.
The action by a group of Indians to bring their grievances to the street is both brave and wrong. Taking it to the streets is a step too far for the violence generated has turned the case on its head, and actually turned people's attention away from the real issue. The surest way to get people's attention to the truth is to exaggerate a little. In this case it is too much.
The richest man in Malaysia is an Indian. The poorest is still a Malay. How they get to be where they are is not purely because of the system in place. Half of man's fate, must surely come from individual volitions, nay, a person holds his fate in his hands. People can rise up no matter the odds or obstacles. One can be born in opulence but die a pauper.
Malaysia is a democratic country, though not among the best in terms of transperancy but the system of checks and balances are working fairly well. There is a fair, and very vocal, representation of the oppositon in parliament. The rule of law still operates. Disssenting voices are heard and read everywhere; there is no way of gagging them short of what Myanmar is doing in cutting off the internet.
We are a multicultural society and there is bound to be disagreements. The logic of operations in such a society is for each to have its own set of political representation, and the Indians have more than enough political representation. Whether that representaton is effective is another matter. Maybe this is what it's all about.
They also have brought a suit against the British government for bringing them to Malaya in the first place, among other things. I think this is a bit off the mark. How is one to know that they would not be worse off now if they had stayed in India. This is not relevant.
However, there has been of late a spate of demolitions of Hindu temples, especially in the state of Selangor. It would be wrong to say that the Selangor state government wantonly raze temples to the ground. The truth of the matter is that these temples were illegal structures, and they have been asked to relocate these temples a long time ago.
Be that as it may, the demolitions can still be considered high-handed, and highhandedness is a form of moral violence. I think a government has enormous powers and every opportunity to make things right for itself and for others. We must preserve our multicultural identity at all costs because diversity is the foundation of our unity.
Let us shun violence. For violence begets violence.
