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Mahathir or Najib - both make no difference to Indians

COMMENT Najib Abdul Razak in his recent address at the MIC's 70th anniversary celebration said he has done more for the Indian community in seven years than what his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad could not do in 22 years.

For this statement, whether true or not, the president of the MIC, Dr S Subramaniam, thanked Najib profusely, even to the point of asking those who gathered at the event to stand up to applaud Najib several times during the function.

Such a servility does not augur well for the leadership of the MIC. It was this over-dependence on Umno for dishing out "bread crumbs" that became the major source of problems for Indians in the country.

Mahathir was merely interested in creating a Malay capitalist class that was line with the New Economic Policy (NEP) and cared little for Indians or the Chinese.

The Malay underclass was also ignored in his scheme of things, but Mahathir's appeal to extreme Malay nationalism, and to some extent Islam, undercut whatever cross-cutting cleavages that might have risen.

It was not that Mahathir did not do anything for Indians, but it was the combination of national neglect and weak MIC leadership that created massive problems for Indians. An economically disadvantaged community cannot just pull itself out of its doldrums without some affirmative action programmes and strong ethnic leadership.

During the time of Mahathir, the MIC leadership under its president S Samy Vellu really did nothing for the community.

Many failed investment ventures

In fact, the community lost whatever wealth it had as result of many failed investment ventures begun by the party and its affiliates, the infamous one being the Maika Holdings scandal that robbed the community of millions and millions of ringgit in savings.

In fact, it could be said that Mahathir's era was the was worst time for Indians in the country.

It was during this period that Indians, as a community, lost out to other communities. Mahathir, driven by a pathological desire to deny his Indian ancestry, ensured that the problems faced by the Indian community were not given any importance.

Rather, Mahathir, rather conveniently, blamed the non-progress of Indians on the leadership of the MIC.

Samy Vellu (photo), the long-time leader of the community, played the role of "disciplining" members of the community from asking "too much". Those who breached the "discipline" imposed were sacked or suspended and this led to the rise of new Indian parties, ironically pledging their loyalty to the BN.

There is nothing for Indians to be proud of in Mahathir. His policies in promoting the bumiputra were boarded on racism and exclusivity that denied other communities their legitimate expectations. While there was opposition, but it was too weak to challenge the racist policies of Mahathir.

Today, it is the same Mahathir who is talking and mobilising forces to remove Najib, on the grounds of corruption.

Sad reminder of his focus on race

The fact that he has little or no regard for other ethnic communities is a sad reminder that he still focuses exclusively on race - and this explains loudly why he prefers to lead an ethnic Malay party to oppose Najib, rather than be a leader of coalition of broad forces with an intention to reform the nature of political governance.

On a relative basis, Najib would surely have done more for Indians, rather than Mahathir. Unlike Mahathir, who seeks to deny his ancestry, Najib is proud of his Bugis origins. Once he said that he had all the qualities of a "Bugis warrior".

However, despite the financial contributions of Najib to the Indian community in the form of financial grants to NGOS, nothing meaningful has resulted for the benefit of the Indian community during the seven years.

Given Najib's declining popularity among the Chinese and Malays, Najib could have provided the financial grants to get whatever support from the Indian community.

Unfortunately, Najib, like his predecessor Mahathir, is still entrapped in ethnicity and religion to adopt progressive policies, not just for Indians but for Malaysians as whole, irrespective of race or religion.

What is required is a level playing field for Indians to compete and work together on an equal basis in the country. It is irrelevant to talk about comparing Mahathir with Najib, or vice-versa, in terms of their contributions to the Indian community.

Mahathir failed Malaysians by trying to entrench the Malay hegemonic agenda that merely benefitted the rich and the fortunate. Malays in general lost out on this. It was worse for Indians and Chinese.

Najib, despite his increased handouts to Indians, has failed to understand what ails the Indian community and what needs to be done. Reliance on the MIC for understanding Indian problems itself is a source of major problem.


P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.

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