What else is the Indian community in Malaysia waiting for to be more united? We are witnessing how the community is constantly stereotyped by the authorities and the media as to having criminal tendencies and the government is continuously neglecting our needs.

Those arrested by the police will either disappear mysteriously from the lock-up and later be found floating in the river, tortured with hot water or beaten to death while in custody. This seems to be the treatment received by the Indian Malaysians for the past 52 since independence.

Is the Indian community paying the price for their Nov 2007 march in Kuala Lumpur to voice their grievances against the government?

If not for that gathering, the rest of Malaysia would not have woken up from their long slumber and caused the hard hitting tsunami on the ruling BN coalition.

The ethnic Indians have been on the receiving end way before Hindraf came into the picture. The slow victimisation and negligence in policy by the government has gone on for way too long.

Indians need to wake up and stand united as there are still many supporters of the BN government who are belittling the efforts and cries of the majority of Indians in this country.

One such individual is Kenneth Eswaran, the President of the Malaysian Chambers of Commerce, who said he was fed up with all the lies spoken against the government by some individuals overseas.

He also claimed to be a self-made man, without any favours from the government. He claimed that there are proper avenues in which to address issues and taking to the streets is not one of them.

We need to take proper ‘working papers’ to the right authorities, he said in an interview with Malaysiakini.

Please tell us what avenues are available with which to bring forth the issues related to the Indian community?

Numerous discussions were held with the various ministers and nothing was done until Makkal Sakthi swept the streets of KL. The so-called ‘one and only’ Indian leader condemned all Indians who participated in the march and a minister in the prime minister’s department even called protestors rogues.

To add salt to injury, our honorable Home Minister who happens to be lawyer by training, recently announced that Kugan was a criminal. Everybody knows that this is not true as the deceased was not even taken to court and charged.

The Home Minister must have been gifted with supernatural powers that magically allow him to discover the truth.

I truly hope that all Indians will sit up and take notice of how Indian issues are handled in this country. No matter what anyone says, the truth of the matter is that no one deserves to die while in police custody, especially after being mercilessly tortured. Race and religion does not matter.

Until and unless there is change in our mindsets, all efforts to bring change may be futile. For this barbarism to stop and in ensuring good governance, the entire government needs to be changed. Only then will there be hope for the Indians in this country.