YOURSAY 'The Indians, who once tapped foreign exchange for the nation out of the rubber trees, are now left as rotting tree stumps by the roadside.'

Commission on Indian youth gangsterism urged

your say ACR: This is sorely needed, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, and kudos for bringing this up.

Umno-MIC are interested only in media coverage when they give out paltry funds for Tamil schools, citizenship for those in their 70s and 80s and RM150 million for Indian SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) vis-a-vis billions for the cronies.

This proposed commission of inquiry will find former PM Mahathir Mohamad guilty of systematic discrimination and neglect of this class of people as most estates had disintegrated during his time, with a complete neglect of the future of the estate workers and their families.

Giri: What Lim said is so true. I'm Indian and I was fortunate enough to study in one of the poorest primary schools in Malaysia.

The Indian kids there wanted to improve themselves and go higher in life, but they knew that no matter what they scored, they would not be able to fund higher learning, especially when their total family income is below RM600 and the kids have to follow their father around on odd jobs.

I love Lim for pointing it out in a diplomatic way - he is a true Malaysian, and I don't see him as a Chinese or what not.

R Mahendra Raj: We salute you, Lim Kit Siang. You are a concerned Malaysian for all Malaysians. The uplifting and guiding of the Indian youths with knowledge and skills need to be revitalised.

The government is playing politics to remain in power forever. Meanwhile it is ironic that foreigners who are restricted from entering other countries can easily get into Malaysia and are given huge benefits for being here.

KSD: This is a very serious issue. Not long ago, there was a traffic jam after the Juru toll complex at Butterworth. It must have been some gang leader's funeral.

Hundreds, I kid you not, of Indian youth were on motorbikes. Many were not wearing helmets, and this is a major thoroughfare, mind you, and their gang flags were being waved.

The entourage were clearly not afraid of the law and one wonders why. There are other Indian gang leaders' funerals on YouTube and it will chill your blood to see them so openly espousing their membership.

There are also claims on the Internet that an MIC leader hosted a party recently that was attended by thousands of members of an Indian gang at the Mines in Kuala Lumpur.

There are housing estates in Klang that are like the favelas of Brazil where even the police fear to tread. The time bomb is ticking and close to explosion. The fact that no one in authority appears to want to do anything about it is telling.

Jedi_Who: In Singapore, the minority Malays and Indians are given special privileges (free education amongst them) to excel and compete with the majority. Only in Malaysia do the majority Malays want to hoard everything under the excuse of ‘Ketuanan Melayu'.

But in reality, it is only a select group of Malays who are enriching themselves. If policies like this and the greed of such people continue, there will always be someone else displaced and marginalised.

If these people can't compete, they resort to crime. This is also why a lot of Indonesians brought here as phantom voters or given citizenship also resort to crime, because they are unable to survive and compete. So, Lim Kit Siang is dead on in identifying this long-term problem.

Umno-BN, however, would prefer to hand them RM500 instead and steal from their livelihood for their cronies.

Vijayan Valayatham : Have you seen an Indian postman in the last 20 years? Have you seen an Indian water meter reader? Have you seen an Indian in a highway toll booth? What about hospital attendants? TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad) meter readers?

These jobs are suitable for PMR or SPM students who don't do well in their exams. But is this group of poorly-performing Indian students taken care of by the government or the GLCs (government-linked companies)? So what do you expect them to do?

This is a result of the government policy of total discrimination. I can see that the Indian graduates are able to fend for themselves, but not those who are academically weak.

Tholu: Najib espouses his 1Malaysia slogan but only throws crumbs on a piecemeal basis at the Indians and even then, only during election time. He is clearly not a PM for all Malaysians.

He is not even a PM for the Malays. He is a PM only for his cronies. When the government, MIC included, deliberately marginalises the minorities, the marginalised resort to crime. This is evidenced in all multiracial countries, including the United States.

There are no equal education opportunities and government monies for small-time businessmen are mostly given to the Malays. Even in government departments, the Indians, who incidentally have dwindled to a negligible number, are sidelined and sidestepped.

And the police's constant persecution of the Indians as if they were pests are driving them to be anti-establishment. The Indians, who once tapped foreign exchange earnings for the nation out of the rubber trees; who had toiled under the sun to build roads, are now left as rotting tree stumps by the roadside.

Ksn: Umno with MIC must be held fully responsible for the situation and punished. But the Indian youths must realise at the same time that crime does not pay in the end; they have to slog it out in the tough world in the face of all sorts of discrimination stacked against them.

I agree fully with Lim that the reasons have to be identified, and solutions found. Estate fragmentation is a primary reason with the consequent displacement of youths with no skills to survive. But taking to crime is never the solution.

JimmyKL: This is both an Indian issue as well as a Malaysian issue. It is our national issue where everybody regardless of race must come forward and help to find solution.

The vicious cycle of poverty, displacement, marginalisation and unemployment are among the major factors that contribute to the high numbers of Indian youth involved in gangsterism.

I don't see any other way of combatting this except by state intervention to uplift the living standards of the poor section of the Indian community, similar to the way the state had helped the poor Malays in the 1970s through affirmative action (especially through education programmes).

Affirmative action is one of the solutions that can be proposed, but instead of affirmative action by race (not all Indian are poor, mind you) it should be implemented by needs and socio-economic background.

1Melayu 1Bahasa 1Malaysia: This is not an Indian problem only. In Sarawak, the displacement of 80 percent of the ethnic population consisting of the Kayans, Kenyahs, Badeng, Penan, etc, is a time bomb waiting to explode in the very near future.

These people have been displaced by the three already completed dams in Batang Ai, Bakun and Murum . Another 12 mega dams are waiting to be built.

The natives, already poor, cheated of their land, natural resources and marginalised by their own government, are resettled without any proper and permanent planning.

P Dev Anand Pillai : Nothing will change as long as we have Malay leaders who are at the helm, be it in the BN or the Pakatan Rakyat, who think of this gangsterism and violence as an ethnic problem and pass the buck to the MIC or other Indian-majority political parties and NGOs to solve.

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