"Ignored by government Policy, hidden from mainstream
Malaysian society, the Indian labour force indeed becomes
Malaysia’s forgotten people" --- N.J. Colletta
The ethnic clashes between Indians and Malays in the first week
of March 2000 in a village in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur,
resulted in the death of 5 Indians and an Indonesian worker and over
30 wounded. The clashes are believed to have originated from a Malay
family celebrating a wedding having some differences with an Indian
family involved in a funeral. This minor fracas escalated into a
series of other incidents.
In a swift action by the police about 200 persons were arrested
of whom 75 have been charged with various offences linked to these
clashes. As usual, Malaysia’s ruling party has accused the
opposition of making political capital out of the worst ethnic clash
for decades. Some of the opposition politicians are of the view that
the clashes resulted more because of the poor living conditions in
these villages than the racial differences. The last serious
conflict between Indians and the Malay Muslims was in 1998 over the
relocation of a Hindu shrine in Penang.
Though the incidents were isolated ones involving a small area,
these reflect the underlying social tensions that continue between
the majority community, the Malays and the Indians. The political
leaders of the Malaysian Indian community are themselves to blame as
they left the poor uneducated Indians untouched by progress, only to
be exploited by them for political ends. The current ethnic clash
has again brought into focus the plight of the Indian community in
Malaysia.
The third largest ethnic group in Malaysia after the Chinese and the
Malays are the Malaysian Indians. The Indians as referred to by the
Malaysian Government are those that belong to the Indian
sub-continent i.e. the Indians , Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and the
Sri Lankans. Despite the fact that the Indians constitute about 8%
of the country’s total population of 22 million they own only 1.0%
of its national wealth. The bulk of the Indian population which
formed the backbone of the country’s labour force is also gradually
losing out in this field with the influx of Indonesian workers.
The Indians themselves are to some extent, responsible for their
present unenviable and ignominious status, though the policies of
the Malaysian Government since independence had not been helpful .
Ignorance born out of poverty in the plantations resulted in many of
them not getting citizenship which was offered in 1957 when Malaysia
became independent. This prevented them from getting jobs.
More than 50% of Indians work in plantations or as labourers and
menial workers in the cities . Indians rank lowest in national
elementary school examinations and the maximum drop-outs are from
the Indian community Since the bulk of the Indians are poor,
gangsterism and drug trafficking are also common with this
community. According to the statistics published in Asiaweek (Jan
26,2001), "the Indians account for 63% of those arrested under the
Emergency ordinance for violent crimes, 41% of beggars and 20% of
child abusers in the country are Indians."
Unlike the Chinese, who lay great stress on education, it is not
considered as an investment by the Indian working class. The Tamil
schools in the estates are often mere apologies and provide no
opportunity for progress in higher education. The undue insistence
on Tamil education by the Tamil politicians weakens the Indian
community further in competing with the indigenous Malays and the
Chinese. The better-off urban Indians are trying to improve their
lot by sending their children for university education abroad. One
of the major reasons for the low percentage of Indian origin
students in the tertiary institutions in the country is the lack of
merit and as a result, even the quotas set for Indians remains
unutilised. The politically articulate Indians blame the Indian
community’s plight on the failure of the Malaysian Indian Congress
(MIC), the leading political party of the Indians.
The MIC is portraying itself as the only party representing the
community’s interests. The party, a constituent of the coalition
government at the centre since independence does not have much
political clout and has not been able to do anything substantial to
improve the lot of the Indians. There is constant infighting among
the party leaders. Another major irritant is the animosity between
the Tamils and the non-Tamils. The Tamils constitute about 80% of
the total Indian community in Malaysia. The MIC is steadily losing
its credibility in Malaysian politics which is polarised on racial
lines despite claims to the contrary.
The Malaysian Government policies since independence have also been
consistently to the detriment of the non-Malays in general though
the Indian community seems to be most hard hit. The first major step
was the introduction of work permits for the non-citizens when a
majority of Indian workers had not obtained Malaysian citizenship.
Subsequently in 1971 with its New Economic Policy, the Government
championed the cause of the Malays by the policy of
"Bhumiputras"(sons of the soil). The Bhumiputras were to have a
major share in the public sector while the private sector remained
secure with the Chinese.
The introduction of quotas for the different races in the
educational institutions has also adversely affected the Indian
community. The New Development Plan for the period 1991-2000 is also
designed to achieve the socio-economic upliftment of the Bhumiputras
and the MIC’s efforts to place the Indians in a separate ethnic
grouping seems to have made no headway with the Malaysian
Government. Being a minority, they do not have the numerical
strength to exert any political influence nor do they make any
significant contribution to the national economy. Hence the ruling
government’s apathy to the Indians is understandable.
Until recently when India embarked on the "Look-East policy" - the
Indian Government on its part had not paid much attention over the
years to the Indians in the South East Asian region. The Indian
Government can help by providing more educational facility for
Malaysian Indians to pursue their education in India. The Indian
Government should also closely monitor the labour force going to
Malaysia to ensure implementation of their service conditions. India
should further strengthen the cultural and economic ties and improve
the tourism facilities for which there is a big scope in Malaysia.
The prospects for the Indian community are not bright and the future
would ultimately depend on the goodwill, cooperation and extent of
integration taking place in the respective societies. A redeeming
feature is the resilience displayed by the Indian community. As of
now the Indians face problems and do not get adequate support of the
Malaysian Government nor do they have the economic clout to compete
with the Chinese. The Indian Government has done little. Thus one
wonders whether the Indians belong to the third major race or to a
third class race in the country. |
