By Sim Kwang Yang
It seems like the nature of human affairs that persecution is the best engine for growth for some social or political causes.
If the early Christians had not been fed to the lions or slaughtered by the gladiators in the Roman amphitheatres, the religion would perhaps not spread so far and wide in the Roman Empire. Christianity seems to thrive on persecution, beginning with Jesus Christ himself.
Ever since the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has been outlawed, they have appeared to be divided, and lost for direction. One group has even left to form an Indian political party, a move much regretted by me as unwise and communal, at a time when the national mood is on the swing away from communal and racial politics.
When the last three of the Hindraf leaders were released from ISA detention, I was happy for them and Hindraf. I was happier even when P Uthayakumar refused to sign any paper that set the conditions for his release. He also did not thank the PM or the government. Why should he do either, when his ISA detention was grossly unjust in the first place? The man has guts, and I admire him.
And then, for some strange reasons, the government want him back in Kamuntin, an order that Uthayakumar has refused to obey. Like RPK, he has another creative display of peaceful civil disobedience. As Martin Luther King and Ghandi have taught us, the best way to fight unjust laws is to disobey them, without violence.
Then, Malaysiakini has this to report: “Revoke order or it’s war!”
P Uthayakumar’s brother, London based Waythamoorthy, called on the authorities to revoke the order with immediate effect, failing which the movement would declare ‘war’ on Najib’s government
According to Malaysiakini, “Following the appointment of Najib as the country’s sixth premier in April, Hindraf – which has been outlawed – called for a 100-day ceasefire which would end in mid-July.”
‘Two weeks ago, Waythamoorthy proposed a dialogue session with Najib’s administration to resolve pertaining issues in connection with Hindraf’s struggle for the betterment of the much marginalised Hindu community in the country.”
‘Waythamoorthy however, now warned that Hindraf was prepared to revoke its 100-day truce and organise mass street protests if the threat to re-arrest Uthayakumar was for real.”
The continued persecution of Hindraf leaders will not deter their fight for justice. It will only renew their determination, and give them further impetus and fresh direction for their cause, like the Roman persecution did for the early Christians. Martyrdom does that for people.
There are many Indians living in socio-economic backwardness in West Malaysia. In a sense, they are worse off than the Dayaks in Sarawak, because they do not have land, as the Dayaks do.
They are plagued by all kinds of social ills associated with poverty, such as housing woes, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, high school drop-out rates, and gangsterism.
Like the marginalised Dayaks, they saw no choice but to vote for the BN election after election, especially voting for the now almost defunct and irrelevant MIC.
But the Hindraf rally on the streets of KL just before the general election in 2008 changed all that. I know of two Indian youths working as dispatch clerks for RM800 a month in a leading KL law firm turned up that day, to join tens of thousands of other Indians, at the risk of being sprayed by water cannons or tear gas, and even of being arrested.
That message of protest against government neglect seemed to have spread like wild fire across the entire Malayan Peninsula, into the remotest plantation and Indian communities. On March 8, 2008, they turned out en masse, against the MIC and the BN, retiring the hitherto invincible Samy Vellu at Sungei Siput in the process.
This show of Indian outrage was not a fluke. They did it again in the Bukit Gantang and the Bukit Selambau by-elections, again. They rejected BN. The underclass Indians have found their power, and they seem to love it!
We have to look forward, to a possible snap state general election in Perak, and to the next national general election.
The Malay votes are now split right down the middle, and UMNO cannot get more than 58% Malay votes in any Malay majority seats as is shown in Bukit Gantang. The Indian voters, together with the Chinese voters, will make the difference between victory and defeat nationwide for the two mammoth coalitions.
Waythamoorthy’s ultimatum to the PM is no idle threat!
The BN government leaders would do well to heed his threat. But they will not. They cannot lose face, by being seen to bow to the demand of Hindraf. They have been addicted to and enslaved by the ISA stick. Persecution is what they do best, because they can.
That may suit the Hindraf leaders just fine. Like the early Christians, they may just thrive under persecution. They have Ghandi for their role model.
We have to show solidarity with them, because they are Malaysians too fighting for their life. We have to support them across religious, racial, and political lines. Now that Uthayakumar is on the frontline against the ISA, we have to pray to our respective god to bless him with courage, wisdom, and perseverance. He is not a criminal, but a victim of unjust laws. He is making tremendous personal sacrifices, not for his own gain, but for the future of his community and the future of Malaysia.
People like Uthayakumar are a rare breed. We must cherish them and their just cause.
The least we can do is to speak out, in solidarity with them.
It seems like the nature of human affairs that persecution is the best engine for growth for some social or political causes.
If the early Christians had not been fed to the lions or slaughtered by the gladiators in the Roman amphitheatres, the religion would perhaps not spread so far and wide in the Roman Empire. Christianity seems to thrive on persecution, beginning with Jesus Christ himself.
Ever since the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has been outlawed, they have appeared to be divided, and lost for direction. One group has even left to form an Indian political party, a move much regretted by me as unwise and communal, at a time when the national mood is on the swing away from communal and racial politics.
When the last three of the Hindraf leaders were released from ISA detention, I was happy for them and Hindraf. I was happier even when P Uthayakumar refused to sign any paper that set the conditions for his release. He also did not thank the PM or the government. Why should he do either, when his ISA detention was grossly unjust in the first place? The man has guts, and I admire him.
And then, for some strange reasons, the government want him back in Kamuntin, an order that Uthayakumar has refused to obey. Like RPK, he has another creative display of peaceful civil disobedience. As Martin Luther King and Ghandi have taught us, the best way to fight unjust laws is to disobey them, without violence.
Then, Malaysiakini has this to report: “Revoke order or it’s war!”
P Uthayakumar’s brother, London based Waythamoorthy, called on the authorities to revoke the order with immediate effect, failing which the movement would declare ‘war’ on Najib’s government
According to Malaysiakini, “Following the appointment of Najib as the country’s sixth premier in April, Hindraf – which has been outlawed – called for a 100-day ceasefire which would end in mid-July.”
‘Two weeks ago, Waythamoorthy proposed a dialogue session with Najib’s administration to resolve pertaining issues in connection with Hindraf’s struggle for the betterment of the much marginalised Hindu community in the country.”
‘Waythamoorthy however, now warned that Hindraf was prepared to revoke its 100-day truce and organise mass street protests if the threat to re-arrest Uthayakumar was for real.”
The continued persecution of Hindraf leaders will not deter their fight for justice. It will only renew their determination, and give them further impetus and fresh direction for their cause, like the Roman persecution did for the early Christians. Martyrdom does that for people.
There are many Indians living in socio-economic backwardness in West Malaysia. In a sense, they are worse off than the Dayaks in Sarawak, because they do not have land, as the Dayaks do.
They are plagued by all kinds of social ills associated with poverty, such as housing woes, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, high school drop-out rates, and gangsterism.
Like the marginalised Dayaks, they saw no choice but to vote for the BN election after election, especially voting for the now almost defunct and irrelevant MIC.
But the Hindraf rally on the streets of KL just before the general election in 2008 changed all that. I know of two Indian youths working as dispatch clerks for RM800 a month in a leading KL law firm turned up that day, to join tens of thousands of other Indians, at the risk of being sprayed by water cannons or tear gas, and even of being arrested.
That message of protest against government neglect seemed to have spread like wild fire across the entire Malayan Peninsula, into the remotest plantation and Indian communities. On March 8, 2008, they turned out en masse, against the MIC and the BN, retiring the hitherto invincible Samy Vellu at Sungei Siput in the process.
This show of Indian outrage was not a fluke. They did it again in the Bukit Gantang and the Bukit Selambau by-elections, again. They rejected BN. The underclass Indians have found their power, and they seem to love it!
We have to look forward, to a possible snap state general election in Perak, and to the next national general election.
The Malay votes are now split right down the middle, and UMNO cannot get more than 58% Malay votes in any Malay majority seats as is shown in Bukit Gantang. The Indian voters, together with the Chinese voters, will make the difference between victory and defeat nationwide for the two mammoth coalitions.
Waythamoorthy’s ultimatum to the PM is no idle threat!
The BN government leaders would do well to heed his threat. But they will not. They cannot lose face, by being seen to bow to the demand of Hindraf. They have been addicted to and enslaved by the ISA stick. Persecution is what they do best, because they can.
That may suit the Hindraf leaders just fine. Like the early Christians, they may just thrive under persecution. They have Ghandi for their role model.
We have to show solidarity with them, because they are Malaysians too fighting for their life. We have to support them across religious, racial, and political lines. Now that Uthayakumar is on the frontline against the ISA, we have to pray to our respective god to bless him with courage, wisdom, and perseverance. He is not a criminal, but a victim of unjust laws. He is making tremendous personal sacrifices, not for his own gain, but for the future of his community and the future of Malaysia.
People like Uthayakumar are a rare breed. We must cherish them and their just cause.
The least we can do is to speak out, in solidarity with them.
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