YOURSAY 'Even a nation as Islamic as Iran today has reserved a number of its parliamentary seats for its Jews. Can you imagine that?'

How electoral abuse fleeces Indians

Cathrine55: With two million Indian voters concentrated in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Federal Territories, Perak and Penang, and yet not a single constituency has been created to represent the Indians in Parliament.

The intentions of Umno have been clear all along. But what is surprising is the attitude of Pakatan Rakyat. It looks like the Indians are doomed under Pakatan as well.

Well, what can you expect when its head is an ex-Umno far right (Anwar Ibrahim) who fought for ‘ketuanan', and the former Dapsy leader (Lim Guan Eng) has turned into a capitalist ‘towkay' who even evicted the very people who voted him in.

I need not talk about PAS and its Islamic agenda. It is strange that people in Malaysia still think Indians can be shortchanged even after the Hindraf uprising.

Hindraf and HRP are still doing their part in our multiracial society and will remain the main force of democratic change.

Onyourtoes: Gerrymandering affects not just the Indians, but Chinese as well. That is why we must work with the right-minded Malays to bring about true representation and multiculturalism to Malaysia.

P Uthayakumar just has to decide who will give Indians a better deal - BN or Pakatan.

I know he has been hard on Pakatan, but he is blind to the fact that the abuse of Indians by BN and their own community leaders has been going on for decades.

He has to decide who shall give him a better bet within the two-party system. Any further dissension and diversion will only cause more disunity and distraction.

I no longer wish to support Uthayakumar within the confines of Hindraf, but I am supportive for more rights and assistance for the Indian community within Pakatan.

Blackknight: This is a good piece of research. However, as much as I respect your work, Uthaya, in helping the downtrodden and the victimised, the argument that a bigger Indian representation will translate to better opportunities for Indians is not supported by ground realities since 1970.

Leaders like S Samy Vellu who sold out (lock, stock and barrel) the community came from constituencies with a very high proportion of Indian voters. In fact, the majority of MIC elected representatives come from constituencies with a significant Indian electorate.Alas, these are the very people who betrayed the Indian community.

Let me list some of them - V Manikavasagam, S Subramaniam. K Kumaran, MG Pandithan, S Veerasingam, K Sivalingam, S Sothinathan, K Devamany, etc. They were all firebrands when starting out, but joined their Umno brethren in milking the nation's coffers using the 'Indian quota'.

I am may sound insolent - and these are early days - but what assurance is there that Uthaya won't go the same way?

KLeo: Perhaps a good test for Uthayakumar is this: If as mayor of a small town, you have to displace either one of two groups to make way for a crucial infrastructure - one plot of land housing 10 desperately poor Indian families and the other housing 11 desperately poor non-Indian (say Malay) families.

All else being equal, who would Uthayakumar and Co choose? If they go with the latter, then I apologise. Perhaps I judged them too quickly. If they choose to save the Indian families, I rest my case.

Gandhi: KLeo, I think your fictional scenario is not sensible and in real Malaysia, it's not possible. Firstly, the infrastructure project either goes through the Malay or Indian residential area. It doesn't cut through in both communities as what you imagine. It either affects the whole of one race or both races equally.

The mayor need not crack his head to evict any one race. I can only tell you that on the Kg Buah Pala issue you have to dig in further to know why it was not handled well.

Pakatan governments have the right to alienate lands for Tamil schools and temples, but this is not happening.

Paul Warren: Indian Malaysians will forever remain disadvantaged so long as Uthayakumar and other like-minded Indians and their NGOs and political parties continue to claim to represent the Indian race.

When will they open their eyes to see that we are all Malaysians?

Indians in Fiji, Uganda, South Africa, Britain, America and other countries are not politically or otherwise represented as a community. Yet they are not as dispossessed as Indian Malaysians. And they are all doing better economically as well as socially.

Uthaya, Makkal Sakti Party, MIC, PPP and everyone of you Indians, can you please just leave Indians alone! When they start thinking of themselves as Malaysians, then maybe they will finally find their way to prosperity.

Pemerhati: The reality in Malaysian politics is that race plays an important role in elections as evidenced by the fact that during elections all media will give the racial breakdown in each constituency.

While BN and Pakatan both field multiethnic candidates, the reality is that to win the elections they are likely to spend more time and effort on championing the interests of the communities that give them the most votes. That means they are likely to concentrate on the two largest communities and the other smaller communities are likely to be sidelined.

As pointed out by Uthaya, various countries have come up with a variety of solutions to safeguard the interests of the minorities but in Malaysia, Umno has unfairly delineated the constituencies to give the majority Malays an unfair electoral advantage.

This enables Umno to discriminate and marginalise the other communities with impunity. The interests of the minorities are best aired by genuine representatives of the minorities, not ‘mandores'.

Anonymous: Even a nation as Islamic as Iran today has reserved a number of its parliamentary seats for its Jews. Can you imagine that?

 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.