The court ruled on the Buah Pala villagers' plight on Aug 21. The Federal Court decided that the residents were trespassers and ordered them to vacate the land.

For the past one week I have been reading many comments throughout Malaysia about the Buah Pala issue. In Tamil they used to say whatever your eyes see can be wrong, whatever ears hear can be wrong but proper investigation reveals the truth.

Buah Pala opened my eyes to see how the united Indians after the Hindraf rally on Nov 25, 2007, are now scattered.

We have been marginalised for 52 years and still, we prefer to be marginalised. Most of the comments are against and from our own community. Our major problem is that we have never been straightforward. We like to criticise someone at the back and never want to investigate.

We blame the mainstream media for not reporting honestly. Still Indians blindly follow the mainstream media. Do you know the consequences for that? Look how we are splintered and still blaming MIC, Hindraf, Makkal Sakti, Paham and Buah Pala.

A piece of straw may be very light and easy to bend but if we have 1,000 pieces of straw together, they collectively will be hard to bend. That is the theory. Splintered, we are individual straws and weak.

Back to Buah Pala, do you remember all the promises made before the elections? Politicians promised to protect the villagers. All the words were spoken without confidence that they will win the Penang government. All were empty promises in the end.

What is the benefit for the Indians? We are just like a football on the field. Players will kick us here and there and we will be happy for it. This is because we are not united and easy to separate and play around with.

My honest wish is that Indians understand their real position in Malaysia and try to be strong together. Not being united will only make us a laughing stock. No offence intended but this is the truth.