I would like to refer to the recent comment by Sara Petra that Indian Malaysians should turn to Gerakan if they felt MIC had failed them. Her comment shows that the young girl is naive and immature when she talks about politics. While I don't undermine the young people who like to get involved in political debates, I also would like to point out that they should carefully analyse their points before they making any biased comments.

Clearly Sara Petra is clueless about the Indian Malaysian political struggle in Malaysia. She is making conclusions from the Facebook posts that she reads online, I believe. Sara Petra thinks, by turning their support to Gerakan, Indian Malaysians will benefit greatly.

The Indian Malaysians’ problems are not as simple as Sara Petra thinks. While she seems to concede that MIC failed Indians in Malaysia, she seems to favour the Gerakan as ‘Indians’ saviours’ in Malaysia, without realising that it was the Gerakan-led government in Penang that marginalised Indian Malaysians greatly.

Sara Petra clearly didn’t read the history of Gerakan before making such a comment. Gerakan was a multiracial party just in name, since the beginning. However, to get the support of non-Chinese voters, the Penang-based party had given some space for non-Chinese in the party. Penang was Gerakan’s stronghold, in which it first formed the state government in 1969.

Since the late Lim Chong Eu succeeded in neutralising attempts to overthrow him, the party became more Chinese-centred and did not give any space for the non-Chinese members to contest in general elections. Look at Gerakan's record on how many Indian Malaysians were given seat to contest in elections since 1978. The fact is, in Gerakan, not even a single Indian Malaysian was given a seat to contest in elections between 1978 and 2008.

Gerakan never spoke for Indian Malaysians throughout the party’s history. Indians in Malaysia largely came from rubber estates. Demand for monthly wages for the rubber tappers were alive even 15 years back. In 1999, when the issue was raised in Parliament, then-Gerakan president Lim Keng Yaik made a disparaging remark in Parliament, which angered Indian Malaysians.

Although Gerakan claimed to be a ‘Malaysian party’, it didn’t represent Malaysians in the past 40 years. Be it Lim Chong Eu, Lim Keng Yaik or Koh Tsu Koon, the Gerakan leadership never cared or bothered about the Indian Malaysian community, or even care about their own Indian Malaysian members.

That's the reason for the protest by a group of Indian Malaysian Gerakan members in 2004. They campaigned for Indian Malaysian voters to vote against Keng Yaik in the Beruas constituency. In 2008, the then-Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon referred the party's then-Youth vice-chief S Paranjothy to the disciplinary committee for speaking up for the Indian Malaysian community. He ignored the calls within the party to allocate some seats for Indian Malaysian members.

He even said that there was no capable Indian Malaysian leader in the party to be given a seat, despite tens of Indian Malaysian professionals in the party. This is the real face of Gerakan, which the young Sara Petra wouldn’t know.

Gerakan vs DAP, who did more for Indian Malaysians?

In her comments on the same matter, Sara Petra had said Indian Malaysians didn't get any benefit by voting for the opposition back to back in 2008 and 2013. I assume the controversial blogger’s daughter is clueless about the condition of Indian Malaysians in opposition-led Penang, because she has been away from Malaysia for quite some time now.

While Gerakan was reluctant even to allocate seats for Indian Malaysians to contest in elections, DAP not only did give the community enough seats, but also recognised the community’s contribution in the nation-building of Malaysia with political recognition.

Prior to 2008, there were only two Indian Malaysian lawmakers in Penang, respectively the state assemblypersons for Perai and Bagan Dalam from MIC. After 2008, there are two MPs and five state assemblypersons of Indian ethnic origin in Penang, namely in the parliamentary seats of Bukit Gelugor and Batu Kawan; and state assemblypersons for Perai, Bagan Dalam, Datuk Keramat, Sri Delima and Batu Uban.

On top of increased representation in legislative bodies, the Indian Malaysians were recognised with the appointment of Prof P Ramasamy as Deputy Chief Minister of Penang. It was the first time an ethnic Indian Malaysian appointed to a top post in a Malaysian political history. The opposition coalition in Perak too created history when they appointed V Sivakumar as the speaker of the state legislative assembly.

Indian Malaysians were politically recognised by appointments to various government posts, from village development and security committees (JKKK) to local councillors in opposition-led states Penang and Selangor. Sara Petra should do some comparison to determine how Indian Malaysians are politically recognised both in opposition-led states and BN-led states before making premature conclusions.

Tamil schools

The Tamil schools didn't get any benefit from the BN government in Penang. The condition of Tamils schools were pathetic, where one Tamil school was operating in the basement of the Indian Association building in Jalan Bagan Jermal, while the Batu Kawan Tamil school was operating in a container cabin. The first task of the Penang state government, after Pakatan took over the state, was to settle the schools problem.

Azad Tamil School got land worth RM13 million in Jalan Utama, near Waterfall Murugan Temple. While Batu Kawan Tamil School got its land immediately.

The DAP-led Penang state government is the first state government in Malaysia to allocate funds for Tamil schools in its annual budget. Since 2008, RM12 million has been allocated by the Penang state government for 28 Tamil schools in the state, although education comes under the federal government’s purview.

The Pakatan Penang state government too had acquired private land from a private owner in Valdor to allocate it to the Valdor Tamil School in South Seberang Perai. The Penang government allocated a 3.2 acre replacement land worth RM10 million for Subramanya Bharathee Tamil School in Penang Island. And the state administration also offered a piece of land for the establishment of Malaysia’s first Tamil Secondary School in Penang.

Socio-economic state of Indian Malaysians

Since 1969 till 2008, it was Gerakan that led the Penang state government. Almost 39 years in power, did the Gerakan-led Penang government do anything significant for Indian Malaysians in Penang? The definite answer is no. In fact, it was during the Gerakan rule Penang Indian Malaysians lost more.

The number of Indian Malaysians in the Penang civil service decreased tremendously under Gerakan rule. Since coming to power in 2008, the Penang state government had shown serious commitment to balancing the racial composition of the civil service and government-linked companies (GLCs) in Penang.

There is no racial or religious discrimination in the allocation of low-cost, low-medium-cost and affordable houses in Penang. More Indian Malaysians bought such housing units under Pakatan rule, compared to 30 years of BN rule in Penang. Poverty eradication is being carried out without racial or religious consideration, where hundreds of poor Indian Malaysians are benefitting from state’s AES poverty eradication policy.

Thousands of small traders, with a sizeable number of Indian Malaysians, benefitted from the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) Titian Rakyat small traders loan scheme. Now, Indian Malaysian contractors can compete for government tenders through an open tender policy, and no longer need to be Ali Baba contractors for some cronies.

Reformation of Penang Hindu Endowment Board

The Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB), the one and only Hindu endowment body in Malaysia, has been existing in Penang way before independence. Since 1957 till 2008, it was under the BN-led state administration. How did the board benefit Hindus in Penang throughout the period? Since the deputy chief minister of Penang was appointed as chairperson of the board, there has been a significant turnaround in the way the board operates.

There was only a balance of RM3,000 in PHEB’s bank account when Pakatan took over the statutory body. Today, the board’s cash reserves reach into the millions, even though about a million ringgit is allocated by the board for the purpose of educational aid for needy Hindu students. There was no such education or welfare aid programmes by the board when it was administered by the commissioners appointed by Koh Tsu Koon.

If Sara Petra would like to know how the Indian Malaysian community benefitted under opposition rule, I can send her some other detailed information. Sara Petra was right in one thing nevertheless, when she conceded that Indian Malaysian voters are kingmakers in the seats where they make up 30 percent of the electoral roll, and will decide the outcome of the general elections.

As Sara Petra observed, Indian Malaysians no longer see MIC as a trustworthy political entity. But her conviction that the minority community can rely 'multi racial' Gerakan instead is also wrong. Indian Malaysians in Malaysia are no longer the ‘fixed deposit’ of BN, as the community voters used to be before 2008.

Indian Malaysians don't see MIC and BN separately; for them the regime has betrayed the community despite the contribution of the community to the country and that will be reflected on ballot papers for years to come.

SATEES MUNIANDY is a councilllor in the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).