I refer to the letter Indians should stop their whining .

The only solution many against Hindraf seem to offer is the tired old statement ‘What have the Indians done for themselves’? Another key deception is the insinuation that Hindraf is Tamil- oriented. Ganabatirau is a Telugu and Manahoran is Malayali going by his full name, Manoharan Malayalam, and it is possible that Kengadharan is Malayali too by virtue of his name.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the majority of the Indians in Malaysia are Tamils. However, support for the group comes from a wide section of the community – talk to any Indian, irrespective of religion or sub-ethnicity in private and you will get to confirm this sentiment.

Indian immigration to this country was primarily to fulfil a labour need and for generations the country benefitted from rubber cultivation due to the sweat and toil of the Indian labourers. Without a proper transportation network no economy can grow vigorously. Till today, labourers paving our varied highways and roads are Indian Malaysians.

The greatest calamity to face the community was when an estimated 100,000 of the 200,000 labourers died in World War II’s infamous Death Railway construction spanning 415km between Bangkok and Rangoon, many of whom were sourced from the pool of Indian labourers in Malaya.

This community literally died for this country. Ask yourselves, on a per capita basis, how many deaths were caused as a result of vocation, for the various communities during the formative years of Malaysia?

In principal, it should be easy to bring up a small community. In reality, with the insidiousness of socio-economic engineering driven by politics, it is something else. Whereas the community was able to come out of being associated with the image of the 'estate-labourer', it has now become a community of gangsters and 'city-squatters'.

The invidious vestige of illiteracy of the forefathers has led to generations of Indian Malaysians growing up without proper documentation of identity thus continuing the vicious cycle of illiteracy and poverty (as children can't go to school and adults can't work without a birth certificate and a MyKad and they can't in turn register their children).

As pointed out, at least until VT Sambanthan was leading MIC, the party had assisted Indians in the estates to register newly-born babies. It is estimated that nearly 30,000 Indians are without these basic documents today! Compare that against Muslim Filipino and Indonesian illegal immigrants who were granted citizenship overnight under Project M to enable Umno to alter the racial balance in Sabah in order to rule. The state today does not know who amongst its denizens are legitimate and who came 'yesterday' and being bumiputeras they are entitled to a host of preferential policies.

The 'one and only representative of the Indians' in government, with a leader helming the presidency for 30 years, has only recently started centres for registering Indians without MyKads and birth certificates obviously in view of the dissatisfaction on the ground caused by Hindraf.

The Indians and other non-Malay professionals are where they are today solely due to the sacrifices made by their parents. Yes, MIC has Mied, Tafe and Aimst but how much of the funding for the setting up of these institutions came from the government? Why did MIC have to go door-to-door in the estates begging for funds, with some rubber-tappers parting with their life savings, for setting up the MIC investment arm Maika Holdings when PNB and Mara could be set-up with billions of public money for the bumiputeras?

Let it be known that till the non-Malay component parties in BN account for the amount of government funding they have received for their various projects vis- B -vis Umno, they are not fit to be 'representatives of the community in government'. At least in the case of the Chinese, their guilds and associations can afford to independently take care of the community.

Any fool can warm the chair and collect ministerial fees and MP allowances but they are in BN for a purpose – community development. Others, including me, have written on why the BN system of governance is a failure in terms of nation-building.

Against this backdrop, it is obvious that the questions posed by the writer are illogical. The first three questions centre on family environment ie, single parent families and divorce rates. Divorce rates are typically high in upwardly progressing communities ie, middle-class families. The Indian Malaysian masses are not there in the first place.

Next, the writer asks, the extent of self-help in the community instead of depending on the government and what rich Malaysian Indians are doing. Many have started trusts and foundations, provided employment and the one or two Indian-owned institutions provide interest free loans for pursuing higher education. With an equity stake of one percent can you tell me how many 'rich' Indians are there anyway?

Nevertheless, the question can easily be answered in a very curt manner with another question ie, why do the bumiputeras require assistance after 40 years of the government spending a trillion on them? What self-help have they started after 40 years of government aid let alone in 1970? Bear in mind, the professionals you see today amongst Indians are largely those who made by their families’ sacrifices. Not enough of self-help and 'not depending on the government' for you?

Also tell me why is there a high number of dropouts among economically disadvantaged communities irrespective of their race? It is evident, therefore that the writer has no inkling of the substantive issues facing Indians or the correlation between the various socio-economic factors and community development.

In this country, an entire generation of bumiputeras were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Yes, communities need to be self-reliant but don't you know how self-reliant the Indian community has been already? Why can't the government just adopt a needs-based policy instead of a race-based one?

If 90 percent of those in need are Malays would not 90 percent of the resources to elevate that need go to them? Is that not what justice is all about? Or is that too difficult a philosophy for the writer and BN apologists to comprehend?