Some loyalists, some untouchables

The Sarawak Indians are divided on their stand in this crucial election.

KUCHING: Lucy Lingam, 58, owns and runs the only banana leaf restaurant in Kuching. The constant stream of customers has kept her business thriving for years and she cannot imagine enjoying the same success elsewhere in Malaysia. But other Indians can.

“There used to be 7,000 Indians in Sarawak,” she said. “But only about 5,000 are still here because the rest have sought a better life in KL or abroad. It’s a shame because Sarawak is a very good place for the Indian community.”

Lucy is a fourth generation Indian. The original community, who settled in Kuching in the 1860s, was a group who arrived to work at the Mount Matang tea plantation there. While the community grew over the centuries, they still only comprise a very thin slice of Sarawak’s diverse racial pie.

A majority of Indians in Sarawak believe that they lead more prosperous and trouble-free lives than their Peninsular bretheren. But there are also many who believe they are deprived of the opportunities enjoyed by Indians across the South China Sea.

Lucy belongs to the first group. As the deputy president of the Sarawak Indian Society and Sarawak’s first Indian “kapitan”, she has seen and heard it all from her community.

“The lives of Indians here are nowhere as difficult as the lives of those in KL,” she stated. “We’re not discriminated against, we’re not embroiled in social ills and we don’t have hardcore poor.”
Lucy’s husband, Sanmugalingam Murugesu, 61, is an Indian from the Peninsula and he heartily agreed. He explained the difference between the communities in the East and West is that the former never had to adapt to a foreign lifestyle.

“A majority of KL Indians were herded out of estates and forced to survive in the city,” he said. “They were lost and they were desperate, hence the gangsterism and illegal squatters.”

“Kuching, however, was like Matang back then so the Indians didn’t need to adjust when they left the plantation. And they have come a long way.”

“We’re not oppressed here so we’re not a hardened lot. Also our minority status means that we’re constantly surrounded by other races so we integrate well into society.”

‘ We don’t bootlick’
The couple live in the Batu Lintang constituency which houses the highest number of Indian voters in Sarawak. According to Election Commission statistics, 1,754 Indians are registered voters with 367 of them residing in Batu Lintang.

Lucy, who is also the SUPP chairman for Batu Lintang, said that many Indians didn’t see a need to change a government that was treating them well.

But she was quick to add that it didn’t mean they weren’t pushing for more benefits. Topping their list is a public holiday for Deepavali and a quota for Indians in the civil service.

“(Hindu Rights Action Force) Hindraf certainly brought about more opportunities for us in the civil service,” she confided cheekily. “But then Hindraf strayed off its course and became irrelevant to the Indians here.”
“We need a quota system because we’re not just competing with the majority races here but also the Peninsular Indians. And most of the time they get the jobs. And a holiday on Deepavali is very important to instill a sense of belonging within the Indians.”

Lawyer Sankar Ram Asnani, 41, is among the contented Indians in the state. He described the Indians as loyalists and was certain that they would not turn their back on the BN government.

“We don’t bootlick,” he said. “It’s not our habit. But we cannot deny that the government has given us land for temples and fair business and employment opportunities.”

“I know many Indians who complain of being deprived of job opportunites, but usually it’s because they use inappropriate channels. They have then come to me for help and I have always managed to help them get jobs.”

‘Really what’s the rush?’
Piara Singh, 73, who arrived in Malaysia in 1953, didn’t hesistate when asked whether he had to think long and hard about his vote in this election.
“I’m voting for the government,” he said openly. “Punjabis have a long history of defending Sarawak and the government has been good to us. It has retained and maintained our monuments, and never tried to exclude us from history.”

But an Indian businessman, who insisted on anonymity, begged to differ. He claimed that his children had remained unemployed for a year despite their high qualifications.

“The Indians here are treated like untouchables,” he said. “We are not given any support by government despite being obedient citizens.”

“The BN will lose many Indian votes this time. Much of my business is with the government but I’m voting DAP and so are my friends because the Indians in Penang have it good.”

To further illustrate what he viewed as mistreatement of the Indians, he said that Kuching didn’t even have a shop that sold religious artifacts, flowers or coconuts.

According to him, devotees picked flowers from the roadside and climbed coconut trees themselves. Lucy sighed upon hearing this story.

“First, some Indians prefer complaining and begging for handouts instead of working,” she began. “Second, many turn down jobs in the private sector because they have been raised to believe that only government jobs are good.”

“Third, they don’t recognise opportunities. Why doesn’t anyone pluck the coconuts and flowers and sell them? The eight scrap metal shops in Kuching belong to Peninsular Indians. There was a need for these shops and Sarawak Indians didn’t see it.”

Sanmugalingam chuckled at his wife’s exasperation. To him there was no need to get all worked up over issues that could be resolved with plain rationale. Like the fact that there is no Indian candidate fielded for the election.

“It doesn’t make sense when there is no predominantly Indian area on which they can concentrate,” he said. “We are too small a community to warrant an Indian party even. And we don’t really need an Indian representative to take care of us. What is so pressing that we need to storm the State Legislative Assembly to be heard?”
“Left the way we are, the Sarawak Indians will take time to catch up with those in the Peninsula. But really what’s the rush?”