There is a 5-tonne elephant in the chinaware room which journalists and commentators on the Kugan case have thus far self-censored themselves from addressing. It is to do with the ethnic composition of the Royal Malaysian Police force (and the broader civil service) and the continuous demonisation of the Indian community by politicians and the systematic downplaying of the important contribution of migrant Indians to Malaysia's nation-building process.

Due to the decades-long campaign by far-right nationalist groups, the historic contribution of migrant communities from India and China to Malaysia's nation-building has been all but erased from our history books.

The key objective of this policy was to perpetuate the myth of the threat to Malay political supremacy by Malaysian Chinese and Indians among the broader Malay masses in order to further the rule of the Umno-elite.

The contributions of key figures (e.g. Munshi Abdullah who was a Tamil) and key places (e.g. Lembah Bujang) where Indian and Hindu influences flourished and influenced Malay culture, language and customs have been all but erased from our historical and political texts and discourse.

Likewise the contribution of Chinese founders of small mining towns like Kuala Lumpur (e.g. Yap Ah Loy) and Ipoh that eventually became flourishing cosmopolitan cities have all been played down.

The fallout from this policy was the demonisation of the Indian and Chinese communities by ethno-centric politicians particularly when their incompetence and rule were threatened by nascent multi-ethnic political parties. The Indian community was even easier to vilify due to their deteriorating socio-economic conditions (a direct outcome of the BN government's own neglect).

Add to this decades of a "social restructuring" policy which systematically changed the vibrant multi-ethnic nature of our civil service at independence into the mono-ethnic workforce it is today.

It is hard to imagine that the numerous deaths in custody cases today whose victims are disproportionately drawn from the Indian community, could have happened in the early years of our independence.

It was unheard of in those days. After all, it is very difficult for the police force to systematically isolate and torture victims from any particular minority ethic group when the police force itself is composed of about 30 to 40 percent minorities.

The very presence of minorities in the police force would serve as a check and balance against such abuses.

Now with the police force being largely mono-ethnic and with decades-old brainwashing to vilify ethnic minorities, especially economically-displaced Indians, it is not too difficult to understand the circumstances where the torture and death of Indians in police custody became the norm.

A similar pattern has been observed in the US from the days of slavery and segregation up till today where the policing force is still largely drawn from the white male population and a disproportionate number of arrested, criminalised and custodial death victims are drawn from the black male community.

All is not lost thanks to the emergence of a more civilised political force and consciousness that is beginning to transcend ethnic and religious lines. That more progressive Malay politicians have called the government's (and police force's) bluff on the Kugan case provides hope that justice and development in Malaysia will one day be blind to our baser tribal and ethnic instincts.