“Young Tamils, unable to get jobs, have taken over gangster activities from the Chinese and this is a major problem for the nation,” said Prof Hoo Kee Ping on June 7, 2016. These words have made their way onto many local dailies on the very same date. This is the remark that we have earned after 59 years of Independence.

Looks like all of us have failed. Not just the kids who have opted out for parangs instead of books, not just MIC who have opted for power greed through their positions instead of serving their people, not just the government which opted to play blind and deaf to our demands and requests instead of playing fair to all, but all of us. All. As in each and every Indian Malaysian in this country, including me.

Education is one of the strongest pillars of a society. Here we are, after 59 years, still fighting and arguing about termite problems in primary schools. Our Tamil school children is soaring to heights day by day, making it to international headlines. Science projects, Mathematics, you name it, they have won it.

But unfortunately, it’s not the same in every school. How many Tamil schools here are equipped with basic facilities? A Tamil school in Subang doesn’t even have a sports field. Is it right for the MIC president to say we need to wait for allocation from the PM’s Department to fix a termite problem in the school for the past five years? Can’t it be mended with special funds?

You mean there is no miscellaneous allocation in MIC to look into urgent and pressing matters concerning the Indian Malaysians in this country? RM300 000.00 is donated for temple multipurpose hall while our children is studying in the school canteen due to lack of funds for repairs and maintenance work.

I am indeed very happy for the temple as this will help them to be self-sustained but what about our children? You can’t fork out anything for them in these five years? Things have to be brought to the surface by parents and then be looked into. Who are to be blamed? Where conditions are right, our kids are unstoppable, where it’s not, they become hopeless.

And what about the Tamil Schools Headmasters Association? Can’t they come up with a solid action plan to overcome issues pertaining to schools/students and demand justice if the funds are not being channeled as per the need? We rage when government announces to shut down Tamil schools, but seriously, are we in the first place doing our part in keeping it alive? Have we done our best in protecting its interest?

If we are firm in wanting Tamil schools in this country, the Education wing under MIC must come up with a blueprint to upgrade Tamil schools and realistic datelines in achieving them. Success is not measured by the number of schools you have created but is measured by the number of schools that are conducive for each student to excel in his path.

On another note, I humbly request the Education Ministry to publish its list of allocation for each Tamil school and how it is channeled; it must be made public and transparent from now on. Funds allocated by the government for our children’s education should not be misused by anyone.

And these children, as they progress into secondary school, they become more and more sidelined. Teachers from other races practice favouritism and are allegedly biased towards our kids - unless they come from excellent academic background and influential family.

Can anyone deny this? How many times have we come across cases where our children are publicly bullied by teachers or other students, how severe has the punishment been? But if the tables are turned? I don’t wish to speak more. We all know the answer.

Most of our youth empowerment programmes are also very fanatic - in the name of teaching origins and bringing them back to their roots. You speak about our past, who our ancestors were and where we came from, then you speak about the present, how we are being bullied, suppressed and mistreated , and by showing these past and present as a reason, you tell youth to build a better future and change the faith of Indians in this country.

This is a wrong approach. It’s fine to expose them to their origin, in fact it’s much needed and so is to expose them to our actual state in the present but you must not overdo this and turn them into fanatics or violent. Mostly these kids leave the conference hall with less tolerance towards other races, they become so attached to their mother tongue that they do not want to learn other languages - in fact they get annoyed to see people from their own race speaking other languages.

This should not be the outcome. The outcome has to be to produce youths who can discriminate a situation with well-informed decisions. We need more thinkers and visionaries. That should be our aim.

The importance of mixing with other races

They must be exposed to the importance of mixing with other races. I came from an estate in Sungai Siput, my father was a rubber tapper. I managed to come up to this level solely through hardship and quality networking. I broke my boundaries and moved to KL, did all types of odd jobs and saved as much as I could for difficult times.

I was always alert and looking out for opportunities. I mixed with high achievers regardless of their race and origin. I observed their habits. When your alliance change, you change. They will change the way you look at life and be an inspiration for you to come up in life.

Realising this, I and a few of my close friends founded a business NGO called 1MINE - Malaysian Indian Network of Entrepreneurs Association just to create a networking platform for Indian entrepreneurs.

This is another important aspect. If you are successful, ( even if you are average ) you must contribute in building your society. We Indians lack this attitude. Lack of opportunity is what puts us behind compared to others. While other races race to aid their community and the society they belong to, we come from a society where majority doesn’t trust it’s own skin.

I personally know a very established Indian businessman who is currently the president of an Indian business NGO who once openly claimed that he will not award any of his projects to Indians due to bitter experiences in the past. If we ourselves don’t trust and exchange opportunities among us, who else will?

The Chinese can survive even without government aids because all their established corporate figures makes it a point to lend a helping hand in building their society. Can we create a pool of funds to help our youths in starting up a business if at all their loan application is rejected? Think.

This is how you bring about change in the society. You walk the talk. You contribute and always pay forward.

Let’s not discuss about government fundings and aid - it’s a shame that being the third largest race in this country, we are always treated worse than the minorities. Half of the time, even when the allocations are approved, it never makes it to the grass root level.

At times, it feels like cannibalism in this race. We become our own enemy. Fifty-nine years after independence, and yet, MIC is neither able to settle it’s internal conflicts nor make any drastic changes to the society. Gangsterism is still the biggest challenge. Rubber tappers are still fighting for minimum wage. Estates still has no basic facilities. Equity holdings is dropping.

I personally submitted the Malaysian Indian Holdings Investment proposal to the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, YBhg Wahid Omar, during a talk organised by our NGO about the 11th Malaysia Plan last year. It was witnessed by almost 300 people, till date, I have not received any feedback on it.

It focuses on improving equity holdings by boosting our investment in this country. If for the past 59years, we have tabled policies in our favor and consistently insist on it, by now, we would have been better off in many ways.

For a race to soar, they need great leaders and guidance. MIC, if 59 years is not enough for you to do your dues, to bring about the changes we wish to see in our society, you may as well take forever and we are already down the drain in this country.

I have written too many articles on these issues and have done all that an NGO can do for the society. I'm tired of it. I’m tired and I literally give up because power to make the changes is in the wrong hands.

S GOPINATH is president of the Malaysian Indian Network of Entrepreneurs Association (1MINE).