YOURSAY 'If an Indian is most qualified to be the IGP or the chief justice, will Najib and his ilk accept that? I don't think so.'

Uthaya wants 5 demands met before he meets PM

Bender: Hindraf is trying to play a tit-for-tat game with PM Najib Razak. The game is fine as long as the player is reliable. The problem is that with Najib, there's no guarantee what he says today will be the same as what he will do tomorrow.

The Indians have suffered for 55 years already, and they still want to play the same game with Najib and BN? Najib's move to reach out to the Indians is a classic act of desperation, and I hope everyone can see that.

Lone_star: Sixty-three months is one hell of a long time to ignore Hindraf's demands. And they said one day is a long time in politics. Has BN been sleeping on the job?

Wira: Human Rights Party leader P Uthayakumar, Najib just wants his photograph taken with Hindraf leaders so that the media can spin a story for the Indians in this country. Remember though, demands are nothing to a ‘do nothing' person.

Abasir: Uthayakumar is merely holding a magnifying glass against the Indian condition - a condition that has all but disappeared from the consciousness of most other Malaysians.

To those who can only traffic in the superficial, he would come across as making impossible demands, as extreme and unyielding.

But given the horrendous state of the community whose continued neglect by the self-serving, hand-kissing MIC has turned it into a ticking time bomb, Uthayakumar's acts (however outrageous they appear) are both necessary and timely.

Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man' written in the 60s, to illustrate the invisibility of the African American problem in White society has parallels to what Uthayakumar is attempting.

Given that the 'Indian problem' has been glossed over by the MIC and rendered almost invisible over the last 50 years, seemingly extreme positions may be the only way to showcase it.

P Dev Anand Pillai : Najib can never be trusted and like it is known, he is not the type who has a firm will to get things done.

Uthayakumar's five demands can be easily be met and it is not much that he is asking, taking into account that the Indians have been here since the time the ancient 2,000-year-old Bujang Valley temples had been erected.

But the point is, will the Umno Malays allow Najib to meet Uthayakumar's demands? Umno only want Indian votes so that it will assure them political power and in return, they will pick a zimmi to represent the Indians and get him to be the ‘mandore'.

So far that has been the game for the past 55 years. Now, we want equality, and nothing short of that. If an Indian is most qualified to be the inspector-general of police (IGP) or the chief justice, will Najib and his ilk accept that? I don't think so.

The day the Malays take a non-Malay as an equal will be the day we see real change.

Anonymous $&@: Many months back, Umno-BN said that Hindraf was an illegal organisation and banned it.

Now with the GE looming near, the PM wants to meet up with Hindraf to score brownie points with the Indians. Please note that not even one of the 18 demands made by Hindraf was looked into.

Pemerhati: Uthayakumar said, "There are 150,000 stateless Indian children who do not have their birth certificates, and an estimated 300,000 parents who do not have their identity cards and birth certificates as a result of being stateless."

This explains why a disproportionately large number of Indians turn to crime. If you are unable to get a job and an education, then what else can you do to survive other than to turn to crime?

All these Indians are the victims of Umno's bigotry and racism because Umno has quietly given PR status, citizenship and ICs to hundreds of thousands of ineligible Muslims from the region especially Indonesia, but has put all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles when it comes to granting citizenship to these locally-born Hindu Indians.

Whatever the incentives given by a desperate Umno, Hindraf and others should cast their votes for Pakatan and help in the formation of a two-party system.

Boiling Mud: Fulfilling the five demands as the precondition to a meeting is not a permanent solution to solve the Indians' woes.

It is more like a doctor treating the symptoms of an ailment without eliminating the underlying cause. And in the present case, I am sure the Indian community leaders are smart enough to identify that underlying cause.

The question remains - do they have the political will to treat the ailment by removing the cause permanently? The pride of the Indian community was sold off cheap in the past by people who claimed to have the interest of the community at heart.

At this point of political watershed, Hindraf must not exacerbate the plights of the community by selling out the soul of the community.

Mohd Mazlan Khamis: I think Umno-BN should really help out the Indians. It is the opportune time to show that we are able to meet their demands and are grateful for their support for the past 55 years.

Let bygones be bygones and lets help them because they need to be helped.

Alfa: Najib and Umno are only interested in getting Indian votes just before the election. They are desperate. They throw a few crumbs to bait them.

After the general election, the Indians will be forgotten again. This has been going on for 50 years. If the Indians are conned again, they deserve it.

Shanandoah: Put the Indians back into the civil service as they were prior to the fourth prime minister took office. Umno robbed the Indians of their jobs and gave them to Umno Malays.

The plight of the Indians is that they have no voice in the administration of the country. Uthayakumar and his brother must take note of this to uplift the Indian community. Building temples and Tamil schools without giving Indians jobs is pointless.

Vijay47: Uthyakumar's five demands indeed appear to be hyperbole, deliberate exaggeration to drive home the point that the Indian community has serious social and related problems that need to be addressed by practical resolution rather than platitudinous promises.

What he is effectively saying is "Enough of pledges. Show me action and I will consider meeting you." Umno's desperation is all the more acute now that their annihilation is looming and it will be willing to offer anything to preserve their survival.

Should they win the elections, God forbid, they will turn with a vengeance and destroy all and anything that comes in the way of their continued absolute grip on the country.

Every prime minister since that Mahathir has piously promised a more representative civil service and not one saw it to implementation, incredibly blaming its own machinery for the failure.

Najib is cut from the same Umno cloth and is the last person to be trusted. That is what Uthayakumar is saying.

Sad Malaysian: Najib won't keep his promises. Don't bother to negotiate with him.

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