It looked like a new stage had been set for the Indian Malaysian poor. It was a culmination of their most recent struggle that began with the Nov 25, 2007 uprising that brought almost 100,000 Indian Malaysians to the street and made Hindraf a household name.
The MOU document laid out the specific government interventions necessary for the improvement of the socio-economic status of the Indian Malaysian poor over the period of the next five years of the Parliament from 2013 to 2018.
Subsequently, Hindraf had activated its nationwide volunteers machinery to campaign for the BN in the 13th general election (GE13) which saw the ruling coalition eventually retaining power but it could only muster 47 percent of the popular vote.
Many political analysts grudgingly agree that Hindraf’s last-minute endorsement of the BN government did swing a part of the 950,000 registered Indian voters, particularly in key constituencies in the states of Kedah, Perak and Negri Sembilan.
On
his part the PM Najib Abdul Razak appointed Hindraf chairperson P
Waythamoorthy as a deputy minister, who was sworn in on June 5, 2013,
but that was about all of what he did in return. The subsequent eight
months was nothing more than empty promises from Najib.As Waytha had said, “I wish to state that over the last eight months, I had at least 16 meetings with (the PM). In each of these meetings, I kept pushing for the naming of the new unit which he promised I was going to head as well as the necessary budget that was agreed.” However, nothing materialised.
To add salt to injury, every time Waytha raised any current critical Indian Malaysian issue, he was rebutted by key cabinet colleagues asking him to quit the government. In this period, on Aug 29, 2013 the PM himself told him to toe the line.
Since it was quite obvious that the BN government had been dragging its feet in delivering its promises, as well as there appeared to be unending series of delays and dead ends suggesting that the PM and the Barisan Nasional were not going to honour the memorandum, Waythamoorthy resigned from all government positions on Feb 10, 2014, to make Hindraf’s point about the non-delivery of the promises.
It will be interesting to note that the act of Waythamoorthy’s resignation reclaimed his ‘credibility’ in the eyes of many but there was a section among the Hindraf activists who felt let down that there will now no longer be any representation of their rights in the federal government.
Feedback from activists
It is based on the feedback of this section of the activists that Waytha has now been deliberating to resume engaging the BN federal government once again. Several key members within the Hindraf central executive committee (CEC) are dead against it! They feel that Waytha is using twisted logic and toxic reasoning to justify this move. It was a similar move that Waytha had come up with before the last GE with the MOU with BN.
They
believe that if the BN government had cheated the Indian Malaysian
community and Hindraf in that initiative, what more hope in reengaging
with them now. More so Hindraf took a severe hit in its credibility with
the majority of the Indians by doing that the first time, all in the
honest belief that the Barisan Nasional leadership would fulfill its
promises.Waythamoorthy’s resignation from the deputy minister’s post had restored Hindraf’s credibility to some extent. Hindraf will live to fight another day. Future leaders may rise up to use Hindraf as a platform to address critical Indian Malaysian issues.
However, all it will take to make him and Hindraf a laughing stock of all and sundry in the Indian Malaysian community is another photo shoot of him with Umno leaders. Umno will be eagerly awaiting for such an opportunity to crop up to once and for all destroy Hindraf’s reputation altogether.
It is quite similar of the fate that is befalling PAS today where there have been reports coming out that a section of PAS leaders are attempting to form a united government with Umno. The damage that has been done will undo years of effort PAS had put in to engage the non-Malays to their cause.
Waytha, on the other hand, is unperturbed of such a scenario materialising as he is now hoping that even if he could just help a handful of Indian Malaysians he will give it a try. To some of these key CEC members, that will be a betrayal of the ultimate cause of what Hindraf truly stands for.
Hindraf’s often stated position is to bring permanent and comprehensive improvements into the lives of the Indian poor. What if Umno actually throws some crumbs at Waytha’s efforts to earn a photo shoot with him and subsequently ignores him again?
Is Hindraf to regress to a level that of as a regular NGO, that just helps out a few and compromises its basic objectives? These were the accusations that Hindraf used to throw at MIC as well as the Indian representatives in Pakatan. It is a well known fact that Hindraf prides itself in always raising the bar and targeting the very top in an effort to make systematic changes in government policies, even though it seldom gets credit for its efforts.
Highlighting temple demolitions, Tamil school inadequacies, statelessness problems, government scholarships and extrajudicial killings had brought about some positive impacts on both sides of the political divide. Shake the top so that changes follow through below has always been its aim.
Ethnocentric political system
Aligning with Umno will mean giving further life to the main driver of an ethnocentric political system which further weakens the position of the Indian Malaysian community at the bargaining table, as the Indian population dwindles to lesser percentages of the national population.
For minority communities to survive, the only protection they can hope to have is the rule of law provided by a set of strong governing institutions. This is progressively being eroded by the ruling BN government. Hindraf’s efforts and energy must be in union with forces that fight to preserve the sanctity of the governing institutions.
Aligning with Umno is therefore indisputably anathema for the well-being of the Indian Malaysian minority community in years to come. This is absolutely not what Hindraf rose for.
On Sept 7, the Hindraf CEC members will meet to decide which direction to take. Common sense and far-sightedness must prevail.
DR PARAMAN VS is a keen reader of Malaysiakini.
PKR's secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution (right) later issued a statement on the letter, but retracted it saying the statement's content is not finalised.
PKR and DAP had submitted only PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's name while PAS nominated Wan Azizah (left) and PKR number two Azmin Ali.
After all, the doctor-turned-politician has a reputation for amputating political careers.
Noting
how Najib did a "marvellous job for a noble cause" in engaging with the
Ukrainian separatists over the MH17 incident, she called on the prime
minister to do the same at home.
She
expressed disappointed that a prime minister, who promised
transformation and greater democratic space, is now setting a "bullying
example" that others are following.
