By Vetrivel
The 2007 Deepavali was among the most heart-wrenching for the Indians in Malaysia. Just a few days earlier, a Temple was demolished in Padang Jawa in Shah Alam and Hindraf was giving its maiden speech & gatherings all over Malaysia.
Sms-es were flying not on Deepavali wishes but on the inauspicious behaviour of UMNO and the temple-breaking as well as the UMNO AGM on November 8th which was on Deepavali 2007. This was also added with the excitement of the Bersih Rally on the 10th which was viewed with interest by Indians all over Malaysia over the Internet with guests as well as family members. During this Deepavali, we heard and saw Khairy calling those on the streets “Beruk” and Badawi challenging the people on the street “Jangan cabar saya!”.
The Bersih event created more enthusiasm among the Indians who were already in a boiling state of anger when Hindraf came into view by daringly Challenging the Goverment! Headlines were splashed with pictures of lawyers who dared the goverment and were suing for hundreds of Millions of ringgit including the landmark case of a Trillion dollar class action suit against the British goverment.
These were events the Indians had never seen before. Never have the Indians dared to speak up and challenge the goverment. Election after election for over 50 years, they religiously voted the BN as incumbent goverment. Since 1990 all MIC candidates got 100% success in all elections except the Lunas by-election. All this was about to change.
Within 2 weeks from Deepavali, the Indians were on the street in amazing numbers. Buses were stopped as far as Penang and JB. People were checked from car to car, phones were confisticated and their sms checked. Even hotels were instructed not to let rooms to Indians during the rally of november 25th. It was akin to being harrassed just for being Indian. How the government of the day was able to declare enemy on its own citizens is bewildering!
25th Nov was even stranger, seeing so many Indians willing to break their shackles and daring to break rules and even face jail by attending the Rally. It was amazing seeing Indians in large numbers and even more amazing seeing the Government create a warzone by pelting 30000 people (conservative figure) with tear gas cannisters.
CDs were made of this incident - recordings, statements. An unheard of record number of court cases and trumped up charges were brought on the people. The lawyers went into ISA while another is in UK to date.
The momentum created from the Deepavali of 2007 took 50 years to build and explode! It did not stop there, the Indians voted in Bulk and March 8th happened as Malaysia took a Giant leap forward.
There were many Rallies in between and with the leaders in ISA the momentum and energy of the people focused on Opposition parties. The coordinators of Hindraf did not prepare for such a large scale involvement of Indians and hence no blueprint to carry forward the people in the right direction from then on. The group was rigid on its 18 points demand rather than use the dynamism which was created to chart a future for the Indians. This was one BIG opportunity wasted.
Badawi took an iron fist role to deal with the Indians with children arrested and defiant people charged when bringing cards as well as flowers.
But 2 years later, we see Najib taking a subtle path compared to Badawi. His soft spoken tendencies and 1Malaysia policy to recover lost ground may be luring the Indians into a false sense of complacency. Nevertheless, Najib could win the heart of Indians where Badawi failed.
We also see Hindraf in a different light with each of the 5 leaders heading into different directions. Accusations of one of them being an undercover Special Branch Officer still looms large. The HRP was born from these events. The coordinators have also moved on their own path. Some even to chart glory by associating with the very BN government they had originally opposed! In fact, the Makkal Sakthi cry has been sabotaged to be the name of a political party by none other than Hindraf ex-coordinator, Thanenthiran. Time has proven leaders are willing to sacrifice on their principles and Thanenthiran will be remembered forever for this.
We can also see that things have not changed much since 2 Deepavalis ago. UMNO has not learned much though it claims so. How else do we figure out the Hari Raya Open House organized on a Deepavali weekend? MIC has learnt nothing from these incidents though they were thrashed badly in elections. Samy Vellu still continues at the Helm.
Apart from these, the Indians have learnt to vote in bulk. BN gained the most from this. This was apparent in Bagan Pinang but the MACC should probe on the admission of voters who claim to have received RM500 and sarees for Deepavali.
Promises for schools remain to be seen.
So have the Indians really returned to the BN fold within 2 years or do we have to wait another 50 years to see another revolution of sorts to show Ketuanan Rakyat?
Will Pakatan Rakyat take cue and be the savior the Indians hope for?
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