from the shadows

the political awakening of Malaysias Indians

Bhavan Jaipragas Ng Jun Sen

A Final Year Project from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological university

from the shadows

the political awakening of Malaysias Indians
Bhavan Jaipragas Ng Jun Sen

Preface

A
Mr MS Mahendran lives a life without a proper home. Displaced by urbanisation, the 52-year-old is a member of an Indian rights group, seeking justice in the political arena.

ll eyes are on Malaysia as it hurtles towards its 13th general election, which is widely expected to be the countrys closest ever political contest.

From the Shadows, borne out of six months of field work in peninsula Malaysia, takes a detailed look at the struggles of the countrys marginalised ethnic Indians, and their potential role as kingmakers in the coming landmark polls. This project would not have come to fruition without the candour of the countless ordinary Malaysians who opened their homes and hearts to tell us the stories of their extraordinary lives. Wherever we went, whether it was the busy streets of Kuala Lumpur or the quiet suburbs of Ipoh, there was never a moment when we were made to feel like outsiders. We would like to thank all the political leaders, civil society activists, journalists and academics whose insights added tremendous value to our work. We are also indebted to the Wee Kim Wee Endowment Fund for its generous grant. Last but certainly not the least, we would like to thank our supervisor Dr Cherian George for nudging us towards taking on this challenging topic and for his incisive feedback over the past months.

FOR MORE, TURN TO PAGE 24

from the shadows

6 14 16 24 28 32 38 41 4 Feature From the margins to centre stage Where the indian vote is No Land for countrymen profile Mahendran, the activist Foreigners at home jostling with the gods beacons of hope Editorial what is next for Malaysias Indians?

Bhavan Jaipragas Ng Jun Sen

Fe ature

From the Margins to Centre Stage

Malaysias 1.9 million Indians, who have long complained of being treated as third class citizens, now find themselves thrust into political centre stage ahead of what is expected to be the countrys tightest ever general election.
by Bhavan Jaipragas and Ng Jun Sen

Leader of Indian rights group HINDRAF, Mr P Waythamoorthy, addresses his supporters at the fifth anniversary of the 2007 protest in the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on November 25 last year.

Soundbite
If you give me and the Barisan Nasional government nambikei (trust) we will certainly do more for the success of the Indian community in the country.
Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak

Kuala Lumpur

athed in a sea of resplendent saris and kurtas, and with the latest Tamil songs blaring out of overhead loudspeakers, Malaysias historic Dataran Merdeka swarmed with thousands of the countrys ethnic Indians on February 2, for what was billed the Indian Unity Festival. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the festivals main organisers, said the cultural event, which featured high-octane song and dance performances by local Tamil artistes, was meant to bring the Indian community together to celebrate the Pongal harvest festival, but it was a galvanising political speech by the countrys leader towards the end that stole the show. I will ensure that the Indian community will enjoy a better future, just like the other communities in the country, said prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, clad in a beige kurta, to a crowd of nearly 100,000, the largest congregation of Indians in the national capital in recent years. Please give me nambikei (trust), please believe and have confidence in me. If you give me and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government nambikei we will certainly do more for the success of the Indian community in the country, added Mr Najib, who heads the 14-party ruling coalition that includes the MIC. It was the strongest signal yet that Mr Najib is mounting an all-out push to regain the support of the countrys 1.9 million ethnic Indians for the coming general election, largely expected to be the tightest political contest since independence. Ethnic Indians, who make up less than eight percent of the national population, have long complained of running a distant third in terms of wealth, opportunities and education. About 800,000 of them are registered voters.

The community shunned the MIC, the countrys biggest Indian based party, in the 2008 polls, partly causing the BN to lose its two-third parliamentary majority and control of five states to the Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance led by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim. Months before the revolt at the ballot box, thousands of Indians participated in a street protest organised by Indian rights group Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) to voice their discontent with racial discrimination, which they said was perpetuated by the BNs affirmative action policies for the Malays. Five years on, MIC insiders now say the personal attention Mr Najib is giving to solve the problems of the Indian community is reaping re-

Local Tamil celebrities join prime minister Najib Abdul Razak (middle, in white) and MIC president G Palanivel at the rousing finale of the MIC-organised Indian Unity Festival.

Around 100,000 Indians attended the festival at Dataran Merdeka, though many left halfway after stalls giving out free meals ran out of food.

Prime minister Najib appears on screens put up around the festival grounds. He later delivered a speech announcing several pro-Indian policies. The feed was broadcast live on national television.

Soundbite
The Indians dont lose anything by putting Pakatan to power because they are getting screwed up from all directions. Pakatan cant make it any worse.
Mr R Sivarasa, opposition member of parliament for Subang

MIC president G Palanivel at the festival. He took over from veteran politician Samy Vellu in 2010, and his performance in the upcoming polls will be closely watched by the Indian community.

wards, and are confident that the ruling coalition will pry away the gains made by the opposition in the last election. The Indians can clearly see what the prime minister has done for the community since he took over four years ago, said Mr P Kamalanthan, one of four elected MIC lawmakers in the current parliament. The party had nine elected MPs before the 2008 election. Mr Najibs promise to almost triple Indians share of national equity to three percent, as well as plans to fully fund all Tamil schools and provide seed capital for budding entrepreneurs in the community have caused Indian support to swing back in favour of the BN and MIC, according to Mr Kamalanathan. This is precisely what is going to help us win this general election, said the straight-talking
Purged and jailed in the late 1990s, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim has staged a remarkable comeback to helm an emboldened opposition that now has a fighting chance to topple the Barisan Nasional government. The 65-year-old is seen as crucial in balancing the conflicting interests of the three parties in the Pakatan Rakyat alliance.

public relations executive, who won the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat in a by-election against an opposition heavyweight in 2010. Political observers, however, are not optimistic, and forecast a further slide in Indian support for the MIC and the ruling coalition in the coming polls. The latest survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre between January 23 and February 6 showed dissatisfaction towards the BN among Indian voters at 43 percent, the highest level in a year. If you compare MICs articulation of Indian interests with that of others, MICs voice is just being drowned, said Dr Bridget Welsh, an expert in Southeast Asia politics at the Singapore Management University. MICs secretary-general G Palanivel, who took over from veteran politician Samy Vellu in 2010, has done little to boost the flailing legitimacy of the party, added Dr Welsh. Mr Palanivel did not win a parliamentary seat in the 2008 general election, and had to be nominated by Mr Najib as a senator, before being made a minister in the prime ministers department. For 62-year-old security guard Kalimuthu Rajendren, events such as the February 2 festival in Dataran Merdeka highlight the MICs misguided belief that its deep pockets and the patronage of Mr Najib can win over the Indian community. They think that if they give us free food and a free (variety) show, we will vote for them. The Indians are not stupid, they know the MIC does not have the power to solve our problems anymore, Mr Kalimuthu told From the Shadows at the festival. We will come out and enjoy if its free, but when the election comes we will vote for Pakatan.
Subang MP R Sivarasa was a prominent human rights activist before he entered active politics in the late 1990s. Mr Sivarasa is widely considered to be a member of the cabal of senior advisers close to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. He is also involved in ongoing negotiations between rights group HINDRAF and the opposition alliance.

Opposition power

Human rights lawyer R Sivarasa, one of several Indians holding leadership positions in Pakatan Rakyats component party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), said the Indian community will stand to gain the most among the countrys various ethnic groups from the alliances race-blind, needs-based economic policy. A joint election manifesto released in February by the opposition alliancewhich also includes the Chinese dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Islamist Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)pledges to eliminate racial discrimination and the incitement of antagonism between community groups. The Indians dont lose anything by put-

For an overview of Indian representation in the next general election, turn to page 14

Whos who

Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has been touted to be Malaysias great reformer because of his progressive economic policies and liberalisation of the countrys tough preventive detention laws. Well aware of the importance of the Indian vote in the coming polls, Mr Najib has at times bypassed the MIC to reach the community personally.

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MICs president Mr G Palanivel, who took over from the partys former strongman Samy Vellu in 2010, is seen to have little clout within the Indian community. Since taking over the top post in the BNs main Indian party, Palanivel has had to grapple with infighting between those loyal to him and older cadres who support Mr Samy Vellu.

The charismatic Mr P Waythamoorthy is the leader of the main HINDRAF group. He fled Malaysia days after the November 2007 protest that he helped organise, and only returned last year. The lawyer is protesting both the opposition and the BNs refusal to endorse the groups blueprint calling for radical affirmative action to help the Indian poor.

The older brother of Mr Waythamoorthy, Mr P Uthayakumar was detained for 17 months under the Internal Security Act for his involvement in the 2007 HINDRAF protest. After he was released, he formed the Human Rights Party, a more radical political wing of the main HINDRAF group.

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Soundbite
It was the Indians who gave the other races the courage to vote for the opposition in 2008.
Mr P Waythamoorthy, HINDRAF leader
ting Pakatan in power because they are getting screwed up from all directions. Pakatan cant make it any worse, said Mr Sivarasa, who is the MP for the Subang constituency in Selangor. The Oxford-educated lawyer is one of several Indian leaders in the opposition alliance who have stepped up efforts at the grassroots level to solve Indian-specific problems, such as the displacement of former plantation workers, police brutality and the demolition of temple structures in privately held land. The alliance, however, is stopping short of promising affirmative action policies to the Indians if it wins the election, which has invoked the ire of HINDRAF in recent weeks. For Dr Welsh, HINDRAF is overextending itself in terms of its demands, even as it remains a potent force in the political landscape. HINDRAF can be an agenda setter and direction pointer...and it has that sense of credibility in lower and lower-middle class Tamils, said Dr Welsh, who predicts that the Indian vote will be crucial in about 10 percent of the 222 federal seats being contested. While the BN remain the favourites to win the general election, the myriad of governmentlinked scandals in recent months may result in the emboldened opposition coming out victorious, she added. As the political wrangling intensifies ahead of the landmark polls, Malaysias Indian voters are treading carefully, wary not to set their expectations too high. Opposition and BN promise many things. We will know their true colours only after the election, said Karunan Rajagopal, 42, at the sidelines of a mammoth rally organised by Pakatan Rakyat in January.

A long train of protesters march from Little India in Brickfields to attend the Pakatan Rakyatbacked mega rally at Stadium Merdeka. The January 12 event brought together more than 100,000 people.

The Hindraf Story, so far

Reawakened HINDRAF

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The rights group, newly rejuvenated after its leader P Waythamoorthy returned from exile in the United Kingdom last year, had mooted an alliance with the Pakatan Rakyat in exchange for six key demands, including an allocation of RM$4.5 billion annually for the sole purpose of addressing Indian problems. Pakatan Rakyat leaders, who say they want to turn the page on the BNs decades-old ethnic policies, emphatically turned this down. We are in broad agreement with HINDRAF, but we are also trying to drive a non-racial paradigm in Malaysian politics, where people are helped on the basis of need than anything else, said Mr Sivarasa. Mr Waythamoorthy, however, said the Indian opposition MPs see HINDRAF and himself as a threat to their newfound political power. Instead, he is now mulling a potential outreach to Mr Najib. Pakatan know that they cant gather the grassroots support like us, Mr Waythamoorthy said in an interview at his Seremban home. Mr Waythamoorthy fled Malaysia days after the 2007 street protest he helped organise, fearing a government crackdown. Five other HINDRAF leaders, including his brother Uthayakumar, were later detained without trial under the Internal Security Act for 17 months. It was the Indians who gave the other races the courage to vote for the opposition in 2008. But now arrogance has set in among some in the opposition, he added. The Pakatan Rakyats dismissal of HINDRAF is something that the BN now looks set to capitalise on. At press time, HINDRAF announced that Mr Najib had arranged to have a dialogue with its key leaders on March 25.

Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim giving a rally speech in Petaling Jaya on December 20, 2012. He has promised to make the resolution of Indian issues a top priority if the alliance wins the coming election.

hen HINDRAF leader P Waythamoorthy fled Malaysia fearing a government reprisal a week after the November 2007 street protest, nationwide support for the rights group was at its peak. The 46-year-old lawyer and his elder brother Uthayakumar had achieved what was previously thought impossiblerousing the countrys incorrigibly passive Indian community into taking to the streets to question their limited political and economic clout. The groups prominence on the political stage would, however, be short lived. With Mr Waythamoorthy on exile in the United Kingdom and Mr Uthayakumar detained under the internal security act for 17 months, HINDRAF splintered rapidly without a strong leadership, with one faction even aligning itself with the BN government. When Mr Uthayakumar was released from prison in 2009, he believed that the diplomatic route had already run its course. He founded the Human Rights Party (HRP), which he branded as the political wing of HINDRAF. The elder of the two brothers, Mr Uthayakumars confrontational approach and virulent rhetoric against both the opposition and the BN government alienated HINDRAFs mainstream Indian supporters. Sensing that the dwindling public support would sideline HINDRAF as a political force in the upcoming elections, Mr Waythamoorthy returned to Malaysia to retake the reins of the group in August last year, while cutting ties with the HRP. The government, which had cancelled Mr Waythamoorthys passport in 2008, allowed him to pass through after the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore issued him a new passport. The charismatic leaders return saw an immediate upsurge in the popularity of the group. It held a 5,000 strong rally in Kuala Lumpur to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2007 protest in November last year. Mr Uthayakumar continues to helm the HRP, which has a significantly smaller following than the main HINDRAF group. Unlike Mr Waythamoorthy who has refrained from publicly announcing any interest in running for political office, Mr Uthayakumar has declared his candidacy for a parliamentary and state seat in the coming polls. In separate interviews with From the Shadows, both the brothers declined comment on their differences.

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Where The Indian Vote Is

State of Penang

Kota Raja

A closer look at the 16 parliamentary seats that will be contested by ethnic Indians in the 13th general election.
Barisan nasional 135 seats

Puchong

Pakatan Rakyat

padang serai
Independent

Bukit Gelugor

77 seats Independent 9 seats Vacant

Prominent lawyer and son of DAP chairman Karpal Singh, Mr Gobind Singh will defend his seat here after winning it from an MCA candidate in 2008.

PAS candidate Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud won here in 2008, but looks to be involved in a three-way fight with MICs former youth chief SA Vigneswaran and vocal HINDRAF leader P Uthayakumar from his independantly formed Human Rights Party.

Mr N Gobalakrishnan won in 2008 under the banner of Pakatan Rakyat, but became an independent after a disagreement with Mr Anwar Ibrahim. He will be contesting against Mr N Surendran from PKR.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh has held Bukit Gelugor since 2004, and led the partys strongest performance in 2008.
Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur

1 seat

Kapar

Segamat

SungAi Siput

Batu Kawan

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Dr P Ramasamy, who won here by 61.9% in 2008, represents the DAP. He is the second deputy chief minister of Penang, but reports say he might not hold on to the position in the election.

Dr Michael Jeyakumar from PSM took Sungai Siput by surprise in 2008 against MIC veteran Samy Vellu. Reports indicate MIC will field its vice-president, SK Devamany. For MIC, a crucial win is required here to show their relevance within Barisan Nasionals ranks. Mr Vellu has also voiced interest in contesting here again.

Tapah Ipoh Barat

MICs M Saravanan will be defending his seat again in 2013. He won by 53% in the previous election, and is one of the only four remaining MIC members in the Dewan Rakyat.

Cameron Highlands Teluk Intan

Thought to be a safe seat for MIC, Cameron Highlands is to be contested by MIC president G Palanivel. But a likely challenger might appear in the form of HINDRAF leader P Waythamoorthy if speculations are right.

Hulu selangor

Subang

PKRs outspoken S Manickavasagam, who won by 55% in 2008, will defend his seat here against a MIC member.

MIC deputy president S Subramaniam will be looking to defend his Segamat seat in 2013.

Klang
Mr M Manogaran won as a member of the DAP in 2008 by 50% against Gerakan candidate Mah Siew Keong, and will likely defend his seat again in 2013. Mr P Kamalanathan won here by 51% in 2008. The MIC member will be defending his seat as one of four remaining MIC members in the Dewan Rakyat. Co-founder of notable human rights NGO Suaram, the outspoken R Sivarasa will be defending his seat for Keadilan after winning here by 55.3%. An unnamed MIC member is slated to contest here as well.

TelUk Kemang

DAP vice-chairman M Kulasegaran will defend his seat here after winning convincingly in 2004 and 2008 against MCA candidates.

DAPs Charles Santiago will defend his seat here in 2013. He won the seat from an MCA candidate by 64% in 2008.

PKRs Kamarul Abbas likely faces an MIC candidate. Either MICs secretarygeneral S Murugesan or vice-president S Sothinathan will contest here.

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No Land For CountryMen

From Johor Bahru in the south to Georgetown in the north, it is boom time for Malaysias real estate market. But for many of the countrys ethnic Indians, a proper home is a distant dream, as the land they used to live and work on is razed, forcing them into slums.
by Ng Jun Sen and Bhavan Jaipragas

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A dairy farm off Jalan Enam in Sentul Timur, set against the construction site of The Capers, an upcoming condominium.

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[top] Calves crammed into a small crate, barely enough for them to move about.

[above] Mr Shanmugam washing the farm while his cows feed. He intends to move out from his current location to prevent further loss of his cattle, but has not yet secured the funds to do so.

For Mr S Shanmugam, living in a temporary shelter means dealing with squalor, such as poor sanitation, unreliable utilities and the constant threat of being burgled.

Sentul Timur, Kuala Lumpur

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airy farmer S Shanmugam has little to look forward to when he wakes up every morning to the familiar sounds of mooing and bleating. His ramshackle hut, made of corrugated steel and scrap wood, is barely holding up, and the lack of proper ventilation is paralyzing. Outside, his herd of nearly 50 cows and a dozen goats is slowly whittling down due to overcrowding, after being cramped in a space no bigger than two basketball courts for more than a year. In 2011, a major real estate developer suddenly hoarded up his five acre grazing pasture to start construction on a multi-million dollar condominium, forcing him to operate at the edge of the original farm, on a muddy wasteland adjacent to busy main roads, a metro line and a drainage canal.

The developer, YTL Corporation Limited, wants him to permanently relocate his farm before the condominium is completed next year, but Mr Shanmugam fears that he would not be able to find an alternative livelihood if he moves away. The developers want me to move, but where can I go? Farming is all I know and all my customers are here. This is my rice bowl, the 55-year-old, who has been farming for nearly four decades, told From the Shadows in an interview at his farm. His late father had started farming unhindered in the areajust eight kilometres from downtown Kuala Lumpurfrom pre-independence days. It was marked as railway reserve land before it was sold to YTL Corporation Limited. Mr Shanmugams predicament epitomises the large-scale displacement faced by a large number of Malaysias ethnic Indians, who are mostly descendents of indentured labourers brought by

Soundbite
If Shanmugams skin was a shade different, he would be in a better position to receive help from the outside.
Mr K Chandrasegar, civil society activist

the British to work on rubber plantations in the 19th century. As plantation land was sold off to private developers starting from the 1980s, many Indians lost their jobs and the free housing and schooling that were included. Smallholder Indian farmers like Mr Shanmugam are also put in a spot due to their inability to take on indomitable real estate developers over disputes on land ownership. The Centre for Public Policy Studies, an independent think-tank based in Kuala Lumpur, estimates that there are over 300,000 displaced Indians in the country. Critics of the Malay-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN) government charge that the authorities are preoccupied with handling the grievances of poor Malays who are considered sons of the soil or bumiputera, neglecting the Indians mammoth displacement problem. If Shanmugams skin was a shade different,

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Against the backdrop of the Petronas twin towers, Mr Shanmugams cattle seem out of place in the urban environment. 80 cows and 30 goats have died since he was forced off the land by developers.

49-year-old R Chelia milks a cow. The milk is then sold to restaurants and shops around Sentul, though he said business became poor when milk yields fell drastically.

he would be in a better position to receive help from the outside, said Mr K Chandrasegar, an independent civil society activist who has spent decades working with displaced Indians. Unlike the Malays, Mr Chandrasegar said, Mr Shanmugam does not stand a chance to receive land grants from the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), an agency that grants land for smallholder farms and is the worlds biggest plantation entity. There are no recent statistics on the ethnic breakdown of FELDA settlers, but research done by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore estimate that more than 90 percent of the agencys farmers are Malay. Government officials, including cabinet minister M Saravanan, have tried interceding on behalf of Mr Shanmugam to find an amicable solution to his woes, but their efforts have been futile so far. Academic experts attribute the Indian communitys decades-long displacement problem to bureaucratic inertia and legal tangles that arise out of questionable land deals. There has been years of mismanagement of land and in many cases there are questions of legality in the deals made, said Dr Bridget Welsh, an expert in Southeast Asia politics at the Singapore Management University. There has not been enough protection for the land rights of ordinary Malaysians, she added. Dr Denison Jayasooria, principal research fellow of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said the civil service is also at fault for being reactive, and not meeting delivery and implementation standards set by the political leadership. There is also a case where there is a lack of empathy in the bureaucracy for the Indians because it is not multi-ethnic enough, he added.

Soundbite
There has been years of mismanagement of land and in many cases there are questions of legality in the deals made.
Dr Bridget Welsh, expert in Southeast Asian politics, Singapore Management University

Longhouse woes

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Another of Mr Shanmugams farmhands, SR Krishnamoorthy, 50, collects grass around Sentul and Ampang to feed the animals, as they no longer have any grazing land.

Regardless of the reasons, Malaysias sluggish approach to dealing with displaced Indians has translated to a decade of anguish for 40 families living in temporary longhouses in Petaling Jaya Selatan, at the border between Selangor state and the federal capital. Over 200 squatters moved to the longhouses in 2003 as part of a deal with real estate developer Peter Brickworks Sdn Bhd, which had acquired the land they had been squatting on for residential development. The developer promised that the longhouse arrangement was temporary, and that it would build five apartment blocks to permanently relocate all affected settlersmost of whom are descendents of tin miners. But it later reneged on this agreement by building only four blocks, leaving the 40 families stranded in the fast deteriorating longhouses. The Petaling Jaya-based company declined to comment on the issue when contacted.

When From the Shadows visited the longhouses in the community in late 2012, occupants rushed to point out the squalid conditions they had to endure, including termite infested walls and spoilt sewer systems. The chief minister of opposition-controlled Selangor, Mr Khalid Ibrahim, vowed intervention in 2011, but little has changed since then. The people who make the decisions on top dont understand what we have gone through living in longhouses for more than 10 years, said Mr M Sugumaran, who heads an action committee representing the forty families. Residents had hoped that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat state government could end the impasse when they came to power in 2008, but this has now diminished into frustration. Even with the opposition, they only start to listen to us when we march to their offices with banners, said Mr Sugumaran.

For more stories from the longhouse community, turn to page 24

Crutch mentality

BN lawmaker P Kamalanathan acknowledges the scale of the displacement faced by a large proportion of the countrys Indian population, but insists that part of the problem stems from a crutch mentality among those affected. Some Indians want a shortcut to success, using their non-bumiputera status as a crutch, said Mr Kamalanathan, whose constituency Hulu Selangor has one of the highest concentrations of ethnic Indians in the country. They should know that the estate does not last forever. If you did not plan and save to buy a house, why must you blame others? A senior leader in the Malaysian Indian Congress, Mr Kamalanathan also rubbished the perception that the BN prioritises the interests of Malays over poverty-stricken Indians, branding

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it the work of opposition spin masters. There are special assistance schemes for these workers to get houses, and the government has created an avenue for them to take bank loans. In 2010, prime minister Najib Abdul Razak unveiled several schemes to upgrade the skills of former plantation workers and encourage them to become entrepreneurs, as part of a larger policy shift to enhance the countrys economic competitiveness. An housing scheme for estate workers has also been in place since 1973 to persuade plantation owners to provide alternative accommodation for displaced workers. However, it is not legally binding, and civil society activists have branded it as largely ineffectual.

Rights, not reprieve

A longhouse community of around 40 families in Petaling Jaya Selatan. Its residents have been waiting for a decade for their low-cost flats.

For many of the displaced Indians From the Shadows spoke to, the governments arbitrary approach of providing aid is particularly irksome. To them, it denotes a fundamental belief among the countrys leaders that displaced Indians must be treated as squatters, and do not have a legitimate claim to land and compensation. Our forefathers and us worked off this land for nearly a hundred years and helped build this country. All we are asking for is what is rightfully ours, said Mr Thilagan, a former estate worker at the erstwhile Bukit Jalil plantation.

160 of the plantations former workers are claiming a four acre plot of land out of the 26 acres they currently occupy to build low-cost landed homes. They have however come up against officials who insist that they can only be compensated with high-rise apartments. The 1,800 acres plantation was acquired by the government in 1980, and sold off piece by piece to private developers. The government now wants to sell off the 26 acres the former plantation workers occupy as well. The governments obstinacy and lackadaisical approach during dialogues with the 160 former plantation workers has attracted significant media attention in the past two years, as well as the ire of others in the Bukit Jalil community. The people living here are not asking for much, but the government and city council is doing everything to make it seem as if they are, said Mr Choong Men Chin, a retiree who is helping the plantation workers champion their cause.

the construction of 100,000 homes. If you look at strict legal provisions, you will not find anything that will help the displaced workers legally, said HINDRAF leader P Waythamoorthy. But there are laws in the country that say that land could be acquired for public purposes, so why not use it to help the displaced? The group has also filed a four trillion dollar lawsuit against Britain for alleged atrocities suffered by the Indian community during colonial rule. For Mr Shanmugam, the dairy farmer, such generous recourse is a distant dream not worth yearning for right now. I have spent my entire life rearing cows, I dont know anything else. All I want is for the government to solve the problem they created for us, he said, while gazing at his makeshift cowshed, with the Petronas twin towers gleaming in the distant horizon.

Whos who
Mr Samy Vellu helmed the MIC for 31 years before being forced to step down in the aftermath of the partys poor showing in the 2008 general election. The 77-year-old remains a hugely divisive character in the Malaysian Indian community. His supporters speak about him with adulation, while others finger him as the root cause for the communitys current problems.

MIC vice-president M Saravanan has dealt directly with the displaced in his role as the deputy minister for the federal territories and urban affairs. A Samy Vellu loyalist, Mr Saravanan is seen as a potential replacement for MIC supremo G Palanivel if the latter falters in the 13th general election.

The HINDRAF way

Rights group Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), which labelled the Indian displacement predicament as the largest single forced displacement in the region, is demanding affirmative action as the way forward. In a five-year blueprint unveiled last year, the group called for 200,000 acres of land to be distributed to the Indian community, along with

Soundbite
They should know that the estate does not last forever. If you did not plan and save to buy a house, why must you blame others?
Mr P Kamalanathan, Barisan Nasional member of parliament for Hulu Selangor
Public relations practitioner P Kamalanathans famous win against Parti Keadilan Rakyat heavyweight Zaid Ibrahim in the 2010 Hulu Selangor by-election has been lauded by the MIC as a critical turning point for the party since its embarrassing defeat at the 2008 polls. MICs president G Palanivel had initially been slated to contest the seat, but senior BN leaders felt Mr Kamalanathan was a safer choice.

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Low-cost apartment flats in Kampung Medan. Most squatters From the Shadows spoke to rejected offers to move to such houses as they are usually poorly maintained and located in less accessible areas.

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Profile

Mahendran, The Activist

By day, he typifies the struggles faced by the Indian underclass, growing up and working on land that the government and companies now say belongs to them. At night, he lends his voice to HINDRAFs rancour for justice. His life is the story of the Malaysian Indian.
by Ng Jun Sen and Bhavan Jaipragas

Petaling Jaya Selatan, Kuala Lumpur

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or ten years, Mr MS Mahendran has lived in the embattled longhouse community in Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS1), holding out on a promise that the Selangor chief minister made. Like the others in the community, he was promised a low-cost flat in return for vacating his old home in the Kampung Muniandy squatter settlement. But till today, not a single brick has been laid on the land where the apartment is supposed to be. While his neighbours continue to fight for their promised houses, Mr Mahendran must think about his livelihood for now. The son of a poor tin mine worker, the 52-year-old did not stay in school for long. He spent his youth learning how to repair motorcycles in a workshop owned by a Chinese businessman in Penang. The skills he acquired now puts food on the table. Unable to find a satisfactory full-time job, Mr Mahendran makes a living repairing

motorcycles at a cut-down price as compared to regular workshops. Life is tough, especially during the weeks when he does not have any customers. We dont ask for much, we make do with what we have, he said. The hard life, however, does not deter Mr Mahendran from being an activist with the Human Rights Party (HRP) helmed by Mr P Uthayakumar. The HINDRAF co-founder is contesting for state and federal seats in Selangor. As his right-hand man, Mr Mahendran does everything from selling tickets for charity dinners to standing in as its unofficial photographer. Mr Mahendran, who was previously from the main HINDRAF group, made the decision to stand by the firebrand Mr Uthayakumar when he formed the HRP in 2009. Mr Uthayas hard-hitting and fierce method is the best way to make our problems be heard, he said.

Crumbling, leaky roofs and termiteinfested walls are commonplace in a PJS1 longhouse. It took several angry visits to the municipal council by Mr Mahendran and his neighbours before they agreed to provide scrap metal for repairs. The longhouses were built a decade ago by the developer for the 40 families as temporary shelters until the apartment is built.

Mr Mahendran reminisces as he sweeps the dust off old photographs, showing scenes of his life in Kampung Muniandy, a sprawling squatter settlement adjacent to a tin mine. He moved to PJS1 after authorities acquired the land and promised the squatters lowcost homes. But Mr Mahendran never got his.

Unlike the other families in the PJS1 settlement, Mr Mahendran has two lotsthe extra one is for his motorcycle repair workshop, Rajiv Motors. It is a tough life, especially when customers are few. We make do with what we have, he says.

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When the day is done and his work is finished, Mr Mahendran dons the orange HRP uniform and leaves his life of motorbikes and leaky roofs behind. He goes to wherever the Human Rights Party leader P Uthayakumar needs help.

For more stories on Indian activism, turn to page 38

At Mr Uthayakumars campaign office in Sri Andalas, Mr Mahendran contributes by arranging chairs and taking photos of HRP activities. He also participates in any HRPorganised political rally or protest.

Mr Mahendran drives past the stalled construction site where the apartment he was promised is supposed to be. It is now wildly overrun by a thick growth of plants, and angry PJS1 residents have taken to spraypainting derogatory messages targeted at the city council for failing to deliver on their promises.

Mr Mahendran speaks to the outspoken HRP leader as the party prepares to discuss plans about contesting the Kota Raja parliamentary seat. Of all the political figures claiming to represent the Indians interests, he chose to follow Mr Uthayakumar as he does not shy away from harsh words or drastic action. Mr Uthayas hard-hitting method is the best way to make our problems heard.

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Ipoh, Perak

Foreigners at home
Thousands of Malaysian-born ethnic Indians from rural areas lack identification documents and are considered stateless. As political leaders bicker over the scale of the problem and the best way to address it, these individuals languish without the rights Malaysian citizens take for granted.
by Bhavan Jaipragas and Ng Jun Sen

ike many in the Malaysian Indian community, Mr Ragu Rajamani is trilingual. Fluent in English and Tamil, the 37-yearold odd job worker would also probably turn heads with his eloquent Malay, spoken with the thick singsong accent distinct to Perak natives. By all accounts, there would be little reason for anyone to doubt that he is a true blue Malaysian citizen. Yet, Mr Ragu has spent most of his adult life struggling to prove that he is a legitimate son of the country. Put into a government welfare home as a toddler because of abusive parents, Mr Ragu somehow slipped through administrative crevices and was not registered as a Malaysian citizen. Instead of the blue identity card called MyKad Malaysians use as proof of their citizenship, Mr Ragu now holds a temporary identification document with the words bukan warganegara non-citizenemblazoned on it. Malaysia is my home, but it is very sad that the government looks at me like I am a foreigner from Bangladesh or Indonesia, said Mr Ragu, who has visited the National Registration Department in Putrajaya more than a hundred times in the past decade to appeal for citizenship. He is one of the estimated thousands of Malaysian-born ethnic Indians who are deemed stateless, and do not possess the blue identity card that is needed for everything from subsidised healthcare to housing loans. Like Mr Ragu, many who suffer from the predicament are also unable to register their marriages, and their children are considered born out of wedlock. Finding a job is near impossible, as employers fear reprisal if they turn out to be illegal immigrants. Experts say that although there are a sizeable

citizens Privilege
Without proper citizenship documents, a person living in Malaysia cannot: Vote Access schooling services Travel internationally Qualify for national healthcare and retirement schemes Work for an organisation Instead, a stateless person is subject to: discrimination registration problems for marriages and births abuse by authorities being classified as an illegal immigrant
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

number of stateless people from other ethnicities in Malaysia, the problem plagues the countrys ethnic Indian underclass the most. The single common denominator among the undocumented Indians is poverty and being in a situation where they are unable to access public sector service, said Dr Denison Jayasooria, principal research fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Many of the stateless Indians are descendents of former rubber plantation workers, and their poorly educated parents may not have known of the requirement to register births and apply for the MyKad when their children turn 12, according to Dr Jayasooria. The issue has become a focal point of public bickering between Indian leaders in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance and the government-aligned Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) ahead of the impending general election. Led by Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Mr N Surendran, the opposition alliance has sustained a months-long campaign calling for the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to hasten the documentation of stateless Indians. Estimating that there are nearly 300,000 stateless Indians across peninsula Malaysia, Mr Surendran said they were victims of a deliberate policy to marginalise and push out Indians from mainstream society. In December last year, he and other opposition leaders led a crowd of nearly 1,000 Malaysian Indians, mostly stateless senior citizens, in a sit-in protest in front of the National Registration Department building in Putrajaya. Without any documents, I cannot vote in elections and I dont get all the privileges and money the government gives to Malaysian citizens, said former rubber plantation worker

Mr Ragu Rajamani, here with his family, holds up his green identity card which classifies him as a non-citizen.

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Kamatchi Doraisamy, 73, one of the participants in the sit-in protest. The protest, which saw participants chanting slogans against the BN government, eventually forced officials to open up makeshift counters outside the National Registration Department building to process citizenship applications immediately. When queried on the oppositions charge that the government was not doing enough for stateless Indians, MIC leaders had harsh words to offer.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat-affiliated lawyer Latheefa Koya pushes against security forces to enter the National Registration Department in Putrajaya. Nearly 1,000 stateless Indians turned up on December 12 last year for the protest, but Barisan Nasional politicians dismissed the event as a farce.

Soundbite
Without any documents, I cannot vote in elections and I dont get all the privileges and money the government gives to Malaysian citizens.
Ms Kamatchi Doraisamy, 73, a stateless person

300,000 fact or fiction?

Mr T Mohan, the youth chief of the party, accused the opposition of championing the cause of stateless Indians issue to bolster faltering support from the countrys nearly 800,000 Indian voters. The opposition are the biggest liars, I challenge them to prove that there are 300,000 or even 50,000 stateless Indians in this modern country, Mr Mohan told From the Shadows in an interview. Another senior MIC leader and lawmaker P Kamalanathan said there could be no way the Pakatan Rakyats parachuted Indian leaders could have accurate data on the problem to come up with the 300,000 number. It is the Barisan Nasional with the cawangans (branches) in every corner of Malaysia to assess the situation on the ground, said the member of parliament for the Hulu Selangor constituency. The government, Mr Kamalanathan said, had been looking into the issue since 2010, when it started conducting road shows in the heartlands to seek out undocumented Indians. A week-long registration drive conducted in 2011 saw 9,529 ethnic Indians in the country apply for citizenship, with 6,590 successful. The

others were turned down, as they did not have sufficient proof to show that they were born in Malaysia. A similar drive is expected to be held by the authorities later this year. We understand there is a problem, it is not as big as Surendran would like to think it is, said Mr Kamalanathan.

Urgent action needed

Researcher Dr Jayasooria said the political bickering by Indian leaders from both sides of the aisle over the scale of the problem has little effect in changing the human tragedy and misery faced by those mired in statelessness. The federal government must find the political will to undertake urgent action to create

a database of all unresolved cases and bring closure to those facing this predicament, said Dr Jayasooria, who previously chaired a highlevel government committee looking into Indian problems in Malaysia. Ms Kalaichelvi Ramaiyah, who travelled from the northern state of Kedah to attend the Putrajaya protest, said the best way the government could help stateless Indians like her would be to remove the requirement to show proof of birth in Malaysia. It is obvious that I am born and bred in Malaysia. I cannot prove it but I hope the government can use its common sense and give us our ICs, said 63-year-old Ms Ramaiyah, a former plantation worker.

Whos who
Ethnic studies researcher Dr Denison Jayasoorias academic analysis of the Malaysian Indian predicament is augmented by his experience as the director of a government assembled taskforce to look into Indian issues. He previously served as the commissioner of Malaysias human rights body and has been a vocal lobbyist calling for urgent state action to resolve the issue of stateless Indians. Mr N Surendran is one of Parti Keadilan Rakyats vice-presidents, but does not hold a parliamentary or state seat. The combative lawyer-activist is considered the opposition alliances point man for Indian affairs. He is making his debut in electoral politics by standing for the Padang Serai seat in Penang in the upcoming polls. MIC youth chief T Mohan is expected to take on HINDRAF co-founder P Uthayakumar in the Sri Andalas state seat in Selangor. Mr Mohan has been a vocal critic of PKR vice-president N Surendran, who he branded a parachuted Indian leader. Dr Xavier Jayakumar is a state executive council member from opposition-controlled Selangor. The dentist-turned-politician will be involved in an all-Indian threecorner fight in the Sri Andalas state seat, with MICs T Mohan and HINDRAF co-founder P Uthayakumar also contesting there.

Mr N Surendran (middle), vicepresident of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, at a protest in support of a stateless family in Brickfields on November 24, 2012.

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Jostling with the gods

The widespread Hindu temple demolitions that triggered the 2007 HINDRAF protest may be a thing of the past, but the rising politicisation of temples and festivals now perturb Malaysias Hindu community, who say opportunistic politicians are marring the sanctity of their religion.
by Ng Jun Sen and Bhavan Jaipragas

Over the Thaipusam weekend, an estimated one million Hindus from all over Malaysia converge at the Sri Subramaniar temple in Batu Caves.

Batu Caves, Selangor

opportunity to unveil several election sweeteners, including a proposal to make the Thaipusam public holiday a national one, and not merely confined to several states. Not to be outdone, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance set up a mega-booth offering drinks and food to passing worshippers outside the temple premises, after being denied the permit to set it up inside. We may not be invited inside today. But we will win this general election, and next year we will make sure we celebrate Thaipusam inside, said Mr Xavier Jayakumar, a cabinet member in the opposition-controlled Selangor state government.

he annual Thaipusam festival, during which Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and skewers as a form of penance, usually attracts more than a million Malaysian Indians to the Batu Caves temple in the outskirts of the national capital, set in a spectacular limestone cavern. This year, with the general election just around the corner, the colourful three-day festival in late January saw political leaders competing for prominence with the cacophony of worshippers chanting religious hymns and swirling heavy ornate kavadis as they walked up the 272 steps to the temple. Officiating the festivals opening ceremony, deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin used the

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Kavadi-bearer N Dashmen, 25, prepares for his journey to the Batu Caves temple.

A boys attention seem to have wandered away from the booths set up by Barisan Nasional, where a lucky draw was taking place for devotees.

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At the Barisan Nasionals booth, pro-BN material is given out while booth personnel chant their campaign slogan janji diterpati (promises fulfilled). The Malaysian Indian Congress had a booth near its headquarters as well.

The spillover of intense electioneering onto the religious arena has rankled the countrys Hindu community, who worry that bickering politicians mar the sanctity of their religion. Over 85 percent of Malaysias 1.9 million ethnic Indians are Hindus. Religion and politics must stay clear of each other if we want to practice Hinduism in the correct way, said Mr Mohan Shanmugam, head of the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, the main association of temples in the country. The Indian community, Mr Shanmugam said, were well aware that politicians were swooping down to Hindu temples and festivals solely to shore up support for the polls, where the Indian vote is expected to be crucial. Before the 2008 general election, Malay leaders would not even step into Hindu temples. Now even the prime minister is coming to Batu Caves for Thaipusam. To Mr Kaliswaran Sathamorthy, a devout Hindu who was carrying the spiked kavadi for

the seventh year at Batu Caves, the increased amount of politicking in the religious festival is simply unacceptable. This is a holy period for devotees to think and pray about (Lord) Murugan. This is not a place for politics and criticising each other, said the 38-year-old. Dr Bridget Welsh, a Malaysian politics expert at the Singapore Management University, said politicians from both sides of the aisle might be overzealous in positioning themselves as champions of Hindu rights, as they are wary of the importance given to religion by the Indian community.

Keeping temples intact

The November 2007 protest organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) was triggered by widespread anger over a series of temples demolitions around Selangor during the premiership of Abdullah Badawi. Both the Barisan Nasional government and

the opposition are well aware that the Indians dont want to go back to the pre-2008 days when temples were arbitrarily being taken down, said Dr Welsh. Temple demolitions have dramatically decreased after the landmark 2008 election, as political leaders, urban planners and real estate developers are now more mindful of the ramifications of such action. When they do occur, however, political parties have been quick to turn them into fodder for political one-upmanship. In November last year, municipal council officers from a opposition-controlled constituency in Selangor demolished a Hindu altar built in the car porch of businessman S Gobikumars home, after complaints by his Muslim neighbours that the structure was illegal and made them feel uncomfortable. The altar was built to house a black trident representing the Hindu deity Shiva, according to Mr Gobikumar. Mr Xavier Jayakumar, the de facto Indian

Mr Chua Tian Chang, member of parliament for Batu and vicepresident of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, gives away refreshments at Pakatan Rakyats mega-booth to Thaipusam devotees.

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a source of pride

Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak visits temples and churches during an inter-faith harmony walk on February 2. Before the 2008 elections, few Malay politicians were willing to do so, citing a Syariah rule forbidding their participation in affairs of other faiths.

affairs official in the Selangor state government, issued a statement saying that the officers acted unilaterally without consulting the state leadership. But the damage was done, and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) moved in to capitalise on the issue. It is totally unacceptable, the opposition have failed in their election promise not to demolish any place of worship in the states they control, MIC youth chief T Mohan told From the Shadows in an interview at Mr Gobikumars home. The 36-year-old was there to lead a collaborative effort by MIC cadres to rebuild the altar for Mr Gobikumar days after it was demolished. It is true that the MIC lost heavily in 2008 because of the temples, but the people know that now we are the ones who can protect the temples, not destroy them like the opposition, said Mr Mohan, who is preparing to run for a state seat in the coming election.

Double-edged sword

While a majority of the Malaysian Indians From the Shadows spoke to voiced concerns over politicians footprint on the Hindu faith, some saw the increased attention as a boon. When the politicians come, so does the media attention, said Mr G Gunasegaran, secretary of the Sri Sakthi Karpaga Vinayagar temple in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

That is an opportunity for temples to show what Hinduism is about, and is also another way to share some of the problems our temples are going through, he added. When prime minister Najib Abdul Razak visited the temple as part of an inter-faith harmony event in February, Mr Gunasegaran used the chance to ask him for help in resolving a longstanding issue surrounding the lease of the temple grounds. A senior official from the prime ministers office approached him to follow up on the issue soon after. Thanks to (the officials) help, I have managed to get the proper documents to secure the lease, he said. Were now one step closer to solving this problem. For Malaysian Hindu Sangams Mr Shanmugam, the increasing encroachment of politicians into the religious sphere is an inevitability that devotees in the country will have to deal with as the election approaches. To reach out to the Indians, one can either go to the temples or go to Indian schools, as these are the only places where you will find Indians en masse, said Mr Shanmugam. We can only hope that the politicians use their influence to safeguard Hinduism, and not advance their personal interests.

Campaign material distributed by Barisan Nasional supporters litter the streets during Thaipusam. More than 80 percent of Hindus are Indians, making Hindu festivals an ideal platform for electioneering.

Whos who
Mr Mohan Shanmugam heads the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, the main representative body for Hindus in the country. In a candid interview with From the Shadows, Mr Shanmugam voiced his frustration dealing with Malaysias wealthier temples, which he said do not focus enough on alleviating Indian problems. In 2010, deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin attracted the ire of minority groups in Malaysia when he described himself as Malay first, Malaysian second. The 65-year-old Johor native may nudge out Mr Najib as the leader of the BN if the coalition fairs poorly in the coming election.

n Malaysias grandiose administrative capital of Putrajaya, a fittingly awe-inspiring Hindu temple is slowly taking shape, with the construction cost ballooning above RM10 million. When completed in 2015, the Sri Lalithambikai temple promises a unique worshipping experience and will prominently feature a dozen ancient pillars dug up from a lost temple in Tamil Nadu. But while its pomp may soon impress visiting tourists, the temple has come under fire from naysayers, who scoff at its exorbitant cost and have labelled it a white elephant. When asked by From the Shadows for his views of the temple, Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Mohan Shanmugam said such ostentatious temples are unnecessary, especially in this case, where there are only a few Hindus residing in Putrajaya. The temple, however, is not alone in its extravagance. In Batu Caves, the most important Hindu site in Malaysia, a gold-coated towering statue of Lord Murugan stands guard at the foot of the 272 steps leading to the Sri Subramaniar cave temple. It was completed in 2006 at the cost of RM2.5 million, and is the tallest representation of the Hindu god of victory in the world. High profile critics like Kota Alam Shah state assemblyman M Manoharan have lambasted the practicality of these structures, adding to the cacophony of views online that the money could have been spent on the many issues afflicting the Indian community. Nonetheless, the majority of the Indian community welcome these developments and celebrate them as icons of Hindu pride amid the ever-rising tide of Islamisation in Malaysia. More temples, it seems, is always a good thing. These wealthy temples must do more to give back to society, according to Mr Shanmugam. A temple typically spends a paltry ten to fifteen percent of the donations it receives on community activities, while the rest are used to pay for the temples maintenance and to upgrade its facilities. Mr G Gunasegaran, the secretary of the Sri Sakthi Karpaga Vinayagar temple, believes that the limited contribution to community service is a consequence of the lack of grant money from the government to help temples in its daily upkeep. We give back to the community by organising religious classes and donating to Tamil schools to buy textbooks. But we can definitely do more if we get funding from the government, he said.

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Beacons of Hope
YouTube sensation KS Bawani is among a growing number of vocal and energetic Indian youth activists championing the cause of the less privileged and giving hope that there is a better age for Malaysian Indians in the future.
by Bhavan Jaipragas and Ng Jun Sen

Slingshotted to fame thanks to a YouTube video, Ms KS Bawani is now an icon of student activism and regularly speaks in university forums about free education, such as this one here in Universiti Industri Selangor.

Padang Jawa, Selangor

27-year-old Indian law student from the far-flung northern border town of Sintok in Kedah has become an icon of the increasing zeal among Indian youths, after a video of her being publicly chastised by a government leader went viral earlier this year. Student activist KS Bawani had risen to rebut criticism of the oppositions proposal to institute free education at a political forum in her university last December. Instead of responding directly, the forums moderator, a senior official from a Barisan Nasional-backed NGO, belittled her educational qualifications and implored her to listen, repeating the word 11 times consecutively. A video of the incident was put on YouTube in January, and the petite Ms Bawani, who stood resolutely as the moderator Ms Sharifah Zohra berated her, immediately became a symbol of defiance against the establishments culture of talking down to the countrys youth.

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There is nothing to fear, what is important is that you stand up and speak up for what you believe in, said Ms Bawani in an interview with From the Shadows. A member of the student-led National Movement for Free Education, Ms Bawani said an increasing stream of Indian youths like her are stepping forward as activists, emboldened by social media and the changing political climate in Malaysia. It may not be as many as the Malays and Chinese, but definitely young Indians are coming out to...speak out and help the community, she said, at the sidelines of a student forum in Universiti Industri Selangor where she was a guest speaker. Ms Bawani, who is doing law as a second degree after completing a first degree in psychology, has also been an active member of the Malaysian Socialist Party since 2005. Ethnic studies researcher Denison Jayasooria said the activism of the Pakatan Rakyats Indian lawyers and Bersihs leader Ambiga Sreenevasan have be vital in encouraging young Indians to challenge the status quo. These individuals...serve as role models for other bright young Indians to come forward and find solutions to the problems the Indian community and others in Malaysia are facing, said Dr Jayasooria from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Young and vocal activists like Ms Bawani have the ability to act as a conduit between political decision makers and low-income Indians who are not able to articulate their concerns, added Dr Jayasooria.

What is next for Malaysias Indians?

They are making use of the Internet very well to connect with the community on the ground, said Mr Mahaganapathy. From helping those suffering from urban displacement to poverty, there are many ways the youth can contribute, and that is what we encourage them to do, he added. Strident Indian rights group Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), which was founded by middle-aged Indian lawyers, is also hoping that vocal youths will step forward to advance its cause and take up leadership positions in the future. We are getting very successful young individuals coming to us and saying they want to help us advance the HINDRAF cause, said Mr N Ganesan, the groups national adviser. Many just want to remain anonymous and work behind the scenes for now. Ms Bawani, who is touring Malaysia every weekend to lobby support for the National Movement for Free Education, believes Indian youth must think about serving all Malaysians, even as they work to alleviate the lives of the countrys Indians. We are after all a multiracial country. Another races problem is also our problem. We cannot keep thinking in racial terms when it comes to activism, she said.

Editorial

A screen capture of the YouTube video that became viral. Ms KS Bawani (left) is confronted by the moderator of a December 8, 2012 forum entitled Are University Students in Line with Politics in Universiti Utara Malaysia.

by Bhavan Jaipragas and Ng Jun Sen

basic rights because of the lack of proper documentation. The temple demolitions that enraged the largely HinduIndian community in the pre-2008 days may have ceased, but as we explored in Jostling with the Gods, many devotees now worry about the impact the countrys increasingly contested political landscape will have on their religion. Whichever way the chips fall in the coming 13th general election, it is obvious that these deepseated problems will not go away overnight. Malaysias 800,000 Indian voters must however use this momentous election to send a strong signal that the status quo is unacceptable. The community should not commit to be either sides fixed deposit. Instead, support must be given to the side that acknowledges the scale of Indian problems and is sincere in its actions to rectify them. As analysts have pointed out, the Indian vote may be the decisive factor in several tightly contested constituencies. As such, there may well be a situation where the critical 112 seats needed to form the federal government is attained as a direct result of the Indian vote. Putting forth a long-term plan to end the woes of the marginalised Indian community will require substantive resources, time and political will. As a starting point, however, it would bode well for the next government elected into Putrajaya to realise that throwing billions of dollars through an Indian emissary organisation like the MICas the current Najib administration has doneis not the way to alleviate the lives of marginalised Indians. For Malaysia to take the next step forward, it is time for the problems of any minority group to be treated as a national one.

Overwhelming support

Ms Bawanis activism and courage at the December forum has earned her plaudits from the Malaysian Indian Congress as well, despite her pro-opposition bias. Senior leaders in the party including secretary-general S Murugasen and strategic director Vell Paari praised Ms Bawani for her interest in politics, which they said shed the perception that Indian youths are apathetic about the future of Malaysia. Mr Mahaganapathy Dass, the head of MICs Higher Education Bureau said the party is trying to breed its own corps of energetic youth activists like Ms Bawani.

Whos who

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Ms Ambiga Sreenevasan is the world-renowned leader of Malaysian electoral reform group Bersih. Her leadership of the group, which has organised three highly controversial street protests in the past five years, has invited death threats and even a suggestion by former premier Mahathir Mohamad that her citizenship should be revoked.

Mr N Ganesan holds the title of national adviser in HINDRAF and can be said to be the de-facto number two in the rights group behind Mr Waythamoorthy. He spearheaded the drafting of the groups five-year blueprint, which calls for the next government to institute affirmative action for the Indian community.

he image of thousands of Malaysian Indians fighting running battles with riot police during the HINDRAF protest on 25 November 2007 has become the icon of the communitys emergence from a deep slumber of acquiescence with Barisan Nasional (BN) rule. Many political observers had predicted that the subsequent drubbing faced by the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) at the 2008 general election would finally usher in a sea change in the destiny of Malaysias 1.9 million Indians, whose longstanding woes have received little attention since independence. Five years on, however, the continued inertia in the amelioration of their problems has bred a strong sense of political disaffection on the ground, as we have observed from our reportage in Malaysia from September 2012 to March 2013. The BN federal government and opposition state governments have instituted policies specifically targeted at the Indians, but their effects, for various reasons, have been marginal at best. What makes their purported solutions worse is the entrenched culture of laziness plaguing an administration that takes action only when the issue is politicised by the other party, splashed across the front pages of the media or when a large crowd of angry men and women are knocking on their ministry doors. One of our interviewees aptly put it: Keep prodding them, otherwise dont expect anything to be done. In No Land for Countrymen, we told the story of how thousands of displaced Indian plantation workers and their descendents remain mired in distressful conditions in their urban slums; while in Foreigners at Home, others are denied

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