Kash’s World

I have mixed feelings about Uthaya Kumar and Hindraf. On one side, it is undeniable that many Indians have been marginalized and that the Indian community, perhaps more than other communities, faces many problems in Malaysia.

But then so do other communities. I’ve heard of Sabahans in Pitas District, they’re Bumiputeras by the way, who live without electricity and running water facilities up till today. There are many poor Malays that live all over Malaysia for whom the NEP doesn’t mean a thing. And I haven’t even talked about the peninsular Aslis yet.

This Malay family has been living under a tent for the past two years since their squatter house was demolished. Want to know where this picture was taken? Right in the heart of the Klang valley, along the MRR2 near Hulu Kelang. (picture credits to my colleague, Hamdi)

 

 

 

So I am not comfortable when someone turns it into a racial issue.

But Uthaya Kumar tells it differently and, tell you what, he makes a pretty good case too.

In a hard hitting interview with Malaysiakini, he takes both the ruling party and the opposition to task for not championing all races equally.

Quote: “If you see the issue of temple demolition – if only Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail), Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Nasharudin (Mat Isa) and (Abdul) Hadi Awang condemned the Umno government for demolishing temples [...] they put their foot (down) strongly and tell (Abdullah), ‘Look this is wrong How can you go and demolish somebody’s temple’, I am sure the Umno government will back off.

But DAP, PAS and PKR will lose Malays votes so they don’t want to make a stand. If at all, they should be more multiracial. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word ‘racist’ against them, they should be multiracial. (When) the temple in Padang Jawa was demolished Kulasegaran moved an emergency motion (in Parliament but) why couldn’t it be Lim Kit Siang (as the parliamentary opposition leader)? [...] it is a national issue, it is not n Indian issue.”

Now that is something I can agree with. Although I still have a problem with his choice of some words. But then again, he has his own definition of the word, ‘ethnic cleansing’ too.

Read the full interview and make your own conclusions: “Uthayakumar: I am no racist” on Malaysiakini. Subscription required, of course. But that’s only RM80 for six months; way cheaper than a newspaper.

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Malaysiakini reports that the Bar Council has called off the Human Rights Day march scheduled for this Sunday.

On the balance of things, I think this is a sensible move.

The social climate, unfortunately, has taken a very ugly and disquieting turn over the last two weeks. I’ve received enough messages and seen online postings to convince me that someone somewhere might start something.

It’s best not to give anyone a chance to exploit the situation.

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