The prime minister and his team spared no effort in rubbishing Hindraf's claim that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Malaysia. They found ready support from many respected commentators and observers who have also criticised Hindraf for using such a strong label.

They are right if we accept the term with reference to what happened in Bosnia, Darfur, Rwanda and other places - the deliberate elimination or killing of a particular ethnic/religious group from a country or region so as to confine that place to solely one community. This is certainly not taking place in Malaysia. But if we look at the ‘ethnic cleansing’ term from a broader perspective, we would have to agree with Hindraf's use of the term, at least in a qualified way.

Compare Malaysia (Malaya) at independence and Malaysia today:

- The multi-racial but Malay-dominated public sector at independence has been ‘cleansed’ of non-Malays. Today the public sector, for all intents and purposes, is Malay-dominated with token representation of non-Malays occupying less significant positions. Ethnic cleansing has certainly taken place in the civil service particularly since the early 1980s.

- In the 1960s and 1970s, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia were the only universities in the country. Their student population and faculties were multiracial. Even though there are numerous public universities today, their students and faculties are far from being representative of the Malaysian ethnic composition. ‘Ethnic cleansing’ has been taking place since the 1970s such that the public universities are practically Malay-majority.

- National schools in the 1960s and 1970s were multiracial with pupils and teachers from all ethnic groups. The curriculum was balanced and catered for all. But since the 1980s, schools have been progressively cleansed of non-Malay teaching staff. Their curriculum and administration have been Islamisised to such an extent that non-Muslim pupils feel excluded with most now attending Chinese and Tamil schools.

- Malaysian history, as taught in 1960s and even 1970s, included Hinduism’s impact and influence on the Malay states more than 1,000 years ago. The history books mentioned that the Bujang Valley was the centre of an ancient Hindu civilisation in Malaysia. History lessons today only make cursory mention of Malaysia's Hindu heritage.

Museum Negara is certainly wanting in comprehensively reflecting the country's actual history. Malaysia's history has been progressively cleansed of Hindu segments. Today, Malaysian history begins with the arrival of Islam to Malaysia. The early contributions of the Chinese and Indian civilisations are rarely mentioned while the Arabic influence is emphasised and celebrated. No one can deny that the official version of Malaysia's history has been subjected to ethnic cleansing.

The above-mentioned realities lend credence to the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ used to describe the developments that have taken place in this country. Hence, the prime minister, all Umno/BN ministers and politicians and some of our moderate commentators should not keep harping on Hindraf's usage of the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ to conveniently label the group as extremist and racist.