Suddenly, as if out of the blue, Tamil schools have been thrust into the news. And I was particularly impressed by Dr. Denison Jayasooria's article carried by malaysiakini last week.

I think I ought to highlight a number of facts that Dr. Denison missed. Firstly, it's strange that he should give much weight to the online poll- which is not particularly reliable.

Secondly, majority of those who participated in the poll Dr. Denison refered to were probably not even Indian-Malaysians.

In any case, it was indeed pleasing to hear that there aren't "hundreds of Tamil schools without blackboards, chalk, tables, and chairs", though I believe this to be apocryphal.

I wonder, however, if Dr. Denison could vouch-safe that there aren't similar number of schools that don't face shortages with regards to blackboards, chalk, tables, and chairs?

That is true, at least, if we are to believe the past pronouncements of MIC leaders. Hence, I am not sure why Dr. Denison should demand apology from Satish Ramachandran. If I am not mistaken, there are many others like Satish who have a very negative view of Tamil schools.

Of course, Dr. Denison, being the head of the Yayasan Strategik Social, armed with all the salient facts and figures collected from numerous surveys would know a lot more about the real condition on the ground.

If Dr. Denison is truly opposed to "negative image projection that stereotypes images of the Indian community as backward and non-progressive community", shouldn't he then provide Malaysians with the correct information? Create a website and place the information there for all to see.

And finally, I find Dr. Denison's views on higher education are terribly, and worryingly, elitist. As someone who has spent considerable number of years in institutes of higher learning, I do think that higher education has a lot of value - both for the person and the society.

However, one should not forget the law of diminishing marginal returns. If we want to get the greatest "bang for the buck", we have to concentrate on teaching the young to read, calculate and articulate.

Unless we have a large pool of thinking individuals, it is unlikely that we will find high quality candidates to pursue higher education. And, Indian Malaysians, as a not-so-successful ethnic group in Malaysia, should have learned by now to prioritise.

Even though, as Dr. Denison says, "access to affordable higher education is one critical dimension that must be addressed". Doesn't it seem like a luxury (that perhaps could wait) when the performance of most Tamil primary schools, where over 100,000 Indian-Malaysian students attend every year, isn't at par with the national average?

Of course, once the university is completed, MIC and perhaps even the Indian Malaysians at large could go around claiming "we, too, have our own university". As a result of which, about a hundred or so Indian-Malaysian students would have an opportunity yearly to eventually qualify as medical practitioners.

But somehow I cannot help but help think that all this is nothing more than a vanity boosting exercise - a quick fix - by a people riddled with inferiority complex.

This latest (for a lack of better word) fetish, I submit, is likely to only scratch the surface of the larger structural problems faced by Indian Malaysians.

All told, I still welcome his words: "Let us find common ground, pool our resources and build our community." Brave words! But does Dr. Denison have the courage of his convictions - to match his words with deeds?