I refer to the letter Open letter to Indian leaders in Pakatan .

I wish to respond to the above ‘letter’, although I am no Indian leader from Pakatan Rakyat. There are major flaws in the letter. The writer sets the premise and uses ‘straw man’ arguments to prove his points. He starts with the premise that Indians are marginalised and then goes on to say that Indians are not deliberately marginalised by the BN government.

How else can he explain the deliberate destruction of Hindu places of worship? The number of Indian youths that have been killed in police custody, the under-funding of Tamil schools and the racial quotas that have kept under-educated Indians out of jobs both in government and in the private sectors?

The writer says that he does not believe that there is a deliberate policy to marginalise Indians but two paragraphs down he says that marginalisation of large sections is a result of bad policies. Bad policies impact on Indians more than any community as they have no resources, unlike the Chinese, to fall back on. This seems to be missed by the writer.

Two paragraphs down again he says all races have fallen victim and ‘admittedly Indians are among the most neglected’. He then goes on to say that Indians are not singled out for marginalisation and they are part of the wider Malaysian society.

Did he expect the Indian Malaysian Indians to be living in outer space? Of course they are part of Malaysian society!

Instead of singing songs of praise towards the Pakatan Rakyat, can he explain how the Pakatan state government demolished a Hindu place of worship in Selangor?

What the Indian Malaysians need are governments at federal, state and local levels to assist them as they have been left so far behind in the race for equality.

Not pious platitudes about a meritocractic society that does not exist even in a neighbouring country despite all its big talk of meritocracy and eugenics.