It was 8.30am, Nov 25 in front of City Square on Jalan Tun Razak. The OCPD asked the crowd to disperse after giving them a 15-minute warning. The crowd sat cross-legged, defiantly, on the road. They flashed their MyKads and their taxi permits to show that they worked in this country and are legal citizens and they had every right to protest and assemble here to voice their rights.

Water jets were flushed upon them twice but they didn't budge. They sat there with their MyKads still in their hands. On the third round, the trucks used acid-laced water. Some still sat there, hence, a fourth round. This time it was too much. The water stung their eyes and burned their skin. Everyone ran helter-skelter. Was the crowd violent?

Upon seeing a police officer beating and kicking a young man, a 62-year-old man asked the officer why was he beating the young man. He also said, "We have 50 years of independence, have we got no rights?" The police officer told him to shut up, grabbed at the old man's neck, pushed him on to the road face down, pulled his hands to the back and handcuffed him. He was a merely voicing his opinion. Was he violent?

The newspapers talk about the rally being violent and policemen being beaten. They do not talk about the 50,000-odd people who took part in this rally of justice. Being the second most oppressed (the most oppressed are the Orang Asli) in Malaysia, these people knew all about confronting the police.

They were all too familiar with police harassment. They came from the north, south, east and west of Malaysia to voice their pains and to shout for justice. They did not chant any political slogans or any religious chants, they merely chanted for justice as citizens of this country.

For six days prior to the demonstration, every road coming into Kuala Lumpur had roadblocks. The police harassed Indians by asking for their MyKads and the purpose of their travel. Handphones were confiscated if they had any messages regarding the Hindraf rally. Do we not have freedom of movement? No, not for us Indians. We cannot be seen to be asking for our rights!

A day before the rally, the Tamil news on Astro and RTM said that any gathering on Sunday was illegal and would not serve any purpose. Even the newspapers parroted the same theme. Some NGOs also said that asking for Indian rights would not serve any purpose. So did MIC chant this theme? They said that the community should work with the system! Has the system helped this community? Has this government even recognised the rights of Indians?

The police took an unprecedented court order to prevent the rally on Sunday. Why was that necessary? Why has the government gone to great lengths to prevent a disenfranchised, oppressed community from speaking out about their right to have access to the wealth of this nation?

Why has this government spent so much money constructing hundreds of roadblocks, to call for meetings with editors of newspapers and televison channels and to provide cartons of lunch boxes to the police force during the rally? Couldn't this money be used for a better cause?

We are tired of begging. Why do we have to beg the authorities to build a temple or a church? They would only give us permission if they are satisfied with the number of people who can attend these temples. We are told that the crosses cannot be prominently shown. That is why churches are in shoplots.

Why should this be? Can't we build a church on a piece of land showing the cross prominently? Why isn't land being designated for temples of worship? We cannot sing certain hymns when the king or prime minister attends a Christian function? Is there freedom of worship? Why are we told that we can't build a gudwara (a Sikh temple) because its dome looks like that of a mosque and that the Muslims would mistaken it for a mosque?

Why have we to beg this government for our right of worship? If our temples are built, we are told that they were built illegally and are broken down. Doesn't this government respect our right to worship our religion? Is it blasphemous to ask these questions or is it blasphemous to break our temples of worship and deny us our rights of worship?

The Indians who came on Nov 25 from every oppressed hole in Malaysia have, for more than a century, struggled to live a decent life. Displaced from the estates without compensation, without land, without skills, without pension, we struggle to educate our children without the benefit of scholarships or loans. We try to provide a better life for our children without the benefit of government or bank loans.

We are tired of struggling to make ends meet. We are tired of being abused and harassed by the authorities. We want to live a dignified life, to enjoy the same benefits the Malays in this country enjoy. Is it so hard to share? We too are citizens of this country or are we second-class or third-class?

Why are our vernacular schools not given sufficient government funds? Isn't it a priority to make sure every citizen of this country is educated in their mother tongues and the national language? Why do we have to beg the political party MIC for our rights as citizens of this country?

We are tired of begging them for scholarships, for bank loans, for business loans. They have shown no political will nor any dignity for our cause. They abused our dignity, our trust and our hard-earned cash. This government has ignored us too.

We are citizens of this country. We have every right to lead a dignified life, to worship with dignity and be treated with respect.