:: OP-ED

Cry for recognition

By Shankari Sundararaman

Oct 27 : On October 23, 2009, the destruction of the Mathurai Veeran Temple in Persiaran Kerjaya in Shah Alam region of Selangor again brings to the forefont the ongoing struggle within Malaysia between the ethnic Tamils and the Malay community. The destruction was reported in three local Tamil newspapers Tamil Nesan, Makkal Osai and Nanban. While these have reported the matter as being critical, there have been other reports that contradict this. The city council claims, that the premises was not a temple at all and that the destroyed compound was, in fact, a place where people went to consult petty fortune tellers. This is also reminiscent of the destruction two years ago of the Maha Mariyaman Temple also in the region of Shah Alam. This incident occurred just around the time of deepavali and later triggered the unrest that was led by the HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force). These distinctions not withstanding, what the issue brings to light is the fact that the question of political spaces and freedoms for people of Tamil origin in Malaysia still remains an unfulfilled aspiration.

The recent reaction of the HINDRAF needs to be understood in the context of the growing unrest that has gripped Malaysia for the past few years. The HINDRAF emerged in 2005 as a radical voice against the marginalisation of the Tamil community. It mainly comprised of Hindu non-governmental organisations and was led by a group of lawyers of Tamil origin. Two important figures among them were P. Waytha Moorthy and P. Utayakumar.

In August 2007, Mr Moorthy, a lawyer by profession, filed a class action suit against the United Kingdom asking the queen to pay a fine of £4 trillion for having taken the Tamil community as indentured labour and leaving them in a political system dominated by Malay-Muslims. This was the first time that the Indian diaspora had asked the colonial government responsible for its resettlement, to pay a fine as compensation for the loss of its home and move to an alien country. The protest outside the British high commission, was crushed by the Malaysian government and the leaders were detained under the Internal Security Act, normally associated with acts of terror and extremism.

In July this year, Tamil rights activist, Mr Uthayakumar brought out a report titled "Malaysian Indian: Political Empowerment Strategy The Way Forward". Released from detention under the Internal Securities Act in May 2009, Mr Uthayakumar represents the leadership of the unfulfilled voices of the Malay Indian community which has over the years been systematically marginalised at the cost of the promotion of Malaysia’s bumiputera policy. Uthayakumar’s movement entitled the "makkal sakthi" or the people’s power is a cry for recognition both within and outside Malaysia for the plight of the Tamil community in Malaysia. The HINDRAF has focused its ire upon the policies of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which have promoted a linear version of promoting the majority Malay Muslim community.

HINDRAF as a political voice mainly emerged as an alternative to the Malay Indian Congress (MIC) which was one of the coalition members of the Barisan Nasional (BN). Led by the UMNO, BN comprised of several parties that formed the coalition at the Centre. This has remained at the helm of Malay politics since 1957. The MIC within the BN has been the political voice of the Tamil people for years and has been led by Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu. With allegations of corruption and little regard for the plight of the Tamil community the MIC today has lost its credibility as the voice of the marginalised sections of the ethnic Tamils.

The ethnic Indian community in Malaysia constitutes roughly eight per cent of the Malaysia’s population. Among this the Tamil ethnic minorities constitute nearly 85 percent of the two million Indian community. And 80 per cent of the total numbers are Hindu in faith. From the time of Malaysia’s Independence the ruling Barisan Nasional, found representation for the ethnic Indian community from the MIC. However, in the aftermath of the 1969 ethnic riots and the introduction of the 1971 bumiputera policy, the Indian community began to be more marginalised. The bumiputera policy or the sons of the soil, established an affirmative action policy for the ethnic Malay community. This policy had an advantage particularly as the New Economic Policy of 1971 was established to uplift the Malay community. Later revisions of this such as the New Development Plan (1991-2000) as well as the New Vision Policy (2000-2010), all targeted the promotion of the local Malay population. Moreover the recognition of Islam as the official religion also led to several cases where judiciary favoured the Malay Islamic community.

Added to this, the educational policy further isolated the Tamils. The community basically comprised of plantation workers who were confined to remote areas and the access to education was limited. Since education at the primary level was in the plantation, the medium of instruction in the schools was in Tamil and this restricted their entry into higher levels of education. In fact only around five per cent of the ethnic Indian community managed to receive a university education and this greatly hampered their ability to get jobs. The community as a result has remained educationally backward and also has not been able to lift generations of children born in the plantations to better standards of living. As a result problems relating to drug abuse and crime are endemic within the community.

For India, the question of Tamil aspirations in Malaysia have evoked a considerable response. In 2007 the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M. Karunanidhi sought the Central governments intervention in the context of the arrest and detention of the Tamil protesters. However, at that time the Malaysian law minister stated clearly that the matter was an internal issue and did not have a foreign policy angle to it. In January 2009, HINDRAF’s Makkal Sakthi presented a paper at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Chennai. It needs to be borne in mind that the dictates of foreign policy restrict a countries ability to influence the outcome of such domestic issues. Added to this, is the fact that India has close relations with Malaysia both bilaterally and through its engagement with Association of Southeast Asia Nations, which still continues to look upon matters of domestic politics as sacrosanct.

The issue is even more critical for Malaysia to resolve. Its declared policy of multiculturalism is likely to be severely eroded if the rights of minorities are not taken care of. As one sees the competing versions of ethnic nationalism of the Tamil struggle versus the majoritarian nationalism of the bumiputera policy, it is crucial for Malaysia to strike a balance and evolve a formula for civic nationalism in which the rights and status of all communities are protected and allowed to flourish. Until this can be achieved the plight of the Tamil community’s aspirations will remain unfulfilled and the contestation for political space will continue.

Dr Shankari Sundararaman is an associate professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the School of International Studies, JNU