I refer to the letter To the critics of Hindraf and Uthayakumar .

First I must congratulate Ang for stating the obvious which is how can we call ourselves Malaysians when almost everyone has a racial bias in someway or another. The issues faced by the Indians are specific to the Indian community and how else can you talk about those issues without being race-specific.

What P Uthayakumar is trying to do is to create an awareness on the plight of the Indians who in the majority suffering from the discrimination by the system. Yes, there other races in the estates or in the same plight as the Indians but what percentage when compared to the Indians? Uthaya is not demanding that Indians be given special privileges but merely they be given opportunities so that they can compete with the rest on equal terms.

Let me just share with you my experience when I was an undergraduate in UM. The Tamil Language Society (TLS) on an annual basis would organise a forum on the plight of the Indians in Malaysia where guests from various sectors would be invited to share their opinions. One of the guest speakers was Anwar Ibrahim ( president of Abim at that time).

His message to the attendees was that the public sector was for the Malays and the private sector was for the Chinese. So where can you Indians go? You have to excel above these two races if you hope to achieve anything. A similar message was also forthcoming from V David (a DAP leader at that point).

Imagine if the educated Indians are told of this message. How do you think the uneducated and less privileged ones would feel – very insecure. This precisely brings me to the point where some say that the Indians deserve to be where they are as they have brought it upon themselves. Please remember that these poor Indians are uneducated, unaware of the issues around them and their rights.

They are easily manipulated by unscrupulous politicians. Give them a few ringgit and they will be eternally grateful to you and do as you bid. Do you blame them for their inadequacies? They want Tamil schools because unscrupulous politicians tell them that is the only way they will be able to preserve their culture. Little did they tell them that being in Tamil schools will almost guarantee that they will be school dropouts by the time they reach the age of 12.

These politicians would like to maintain the status quo so that they can continue to manipulate the Indian masses. These people are fighting for survival and are hopelessly insecure. When someone gives them some money and tells them to vote for this party they will comply. Hindraf changed that. For once many Indians were proud to be called Indians and a sense of security and unity prevailed.

This is precisely what Uthaya is striving to further. He is trying to instill some form of confidence cum security in them and also create opportunities to upgrade their status. I think if we are truly Malaysian’s we owe them, the Indians, this much.