The poor or underprivileged Indians need to reinvent themselves to uplift their economic status as their destiny lies on their own hands. Their fate depends on whether they want to change or sink in this land of opportunities.

To achieve change, they need to go through a sort of mental revolution in order to transform their outlook towards life. Successful Indians, social leaders, volunteers and the Indian politicians in the country could play a very influential role to help them revolutionise the Indian mindset in order to assist the community to uplift their social and economic status.

Keep on showing them the path of optimism. Hopefully, they would soon shed their negativism, discover the value of quality life and transform themselves to flourish in life. A mindset shrouded with pessimism, fatalism and being too obsessed with the metaphysical aspects of religion would drag them further back. Continually expecting others to bail them out and offer them goodies is not going to resolve their quandary in the long run.

It is a fact that a significant portion of the Indian community in the country does face abject poverty. To add salt to injury, a striking percentage of the poor are plunged in irreversibly chronic alcoholism and other social delinquencies such as drug abuse, gangsterism and other forms of social violence. They also, by race, dominate the prisons. All this is in part due to their unconstructive upbringing and they being misguided in life, as there are no affirmative role models in the family and surroundings to emulate.

Many were displaced in society after the post-independence period and subsequent economic changes in the country. Many estate Indians, as a consequence, were left jobless. Void of proper education and collective awareness, many were left stateless. Many of their offspring have thus ended up remaining unenlightened with some engaging in notorious activities.

The Tamil education they received for a few years in many of the derelict and ramshackle schools in the estates with inexpert teachers have not contributed much to their progress. Regrettably, in most cases, these children would never make it further after the six-year education they receive in Tamil schools. Many social leaders have not convinced them of this matter, probably, for some vested grounds.

What's more, despite the myriad of problems faced by the Tamil schools in most areas, some Indian politicians are still adamant that they should exist and they keep on harping that the government should help them. However, a covert motive that most observers sense is that this is for the political survival of some leaders, and this is done at the expense of the poor Indians.

Little do some realise that many Tamil school pupils drop out the moment they enter secondary school. The dropout rate among Indians pupils is only second to the Orang Asli's in the country. One reason is that they do not speak nor understand the national language or English.

Social leaders, politicians and successful Indians should make underprivileged Indians realise that in the context of the Malaysian society, it would help a lot if these poor Indian children attend national schools until completion. They have to learn to accept the reality that ultimately they have to complete their studies in the secondary national schools. They would then from the start learn to mix with other races and they would also end up having a better outlook on life hatching themselves out of their dim shells.

How much can the government do if the community itself does not have the tenacity to change its way of life? It's the way of thinking of the poor in the Indian community that has to be shaped. There has to be a strong will in them to change their fortunes in life. This must come through proper and progressive education, surroundings and exposure. Their dilemma, plight and image should reverberate across all the ethnic Indians and Malaysians in general.

This marginalised group of isolated Indians are not seeking power in politics. They are too nave and would always vote for the incumbent no matter what hardships they face in life. Despite their plight and downtrodden life they are still subservient - like dogs are to their masters. Let's help them to lead a decent life.