DAP is Racist?
A Reply to Capt Reinu Balakrishnan’s article
By Emmanuel Joseph, DAP Socialist Youth, Klang
Dear sir,
I read with absolute amazement your deduction that the DAP is racist based on your various experiences with them. I happen to personally know some of the people you mentioned, and I find it difficult to swallow the fact that you sir, label them racist. I happen as well, sir, to be a member of the aforementioned party you so labeled racist , and likewise, I find it hard to conceive them as racist. Like you, sir, I am not an ethnic Chinese. My father is an ethnic Indian, like his father before him, and his grandfather before that.
So is YB Manoharan, one of the five Indians arrested under the ISA for fighting for HINDRAF. So is Sdr V Ganabatirau.Our national chairman , as a friend of mine likes to say, and I quote, is a Mr Singh, not a Mr Sing. That, coupled with the fact that the DAP has a larger percentage of Indian representatives at the national leadership level compared to other ‘multiracial’ parties like Gerakan, and that we have more elected representatives than the MIC, makes me believe your assumption is based purely on your encounter in these few incidents and with these few people alone, and not on any ‘larger picture’. And I hope, sincerely that my belief in this matter is right.
Regardless, I find it odd that you would identify the venue of the event as a yardstick to measure the party’s alleged ethnocentric tendencies. So, they used a Chinese school hall. I know of many Indians, and Malays for that matter that use Chinese school halls as their wedding venues. Does this make them racist as well, sir? Perhaps, just perhaps, the organizers thought that using a state government facility would be misread as misusing government property. Perhaps a hotel would be too expensive. Perhaps also, there are no Tamil, Punjabi or Sekolah Agama in the vicinity with a school hall that large.
I’m sure the good people at Paramount would be happy to oblige a table of vegetarian diners. I am finding it difficult as well, to recall if I’ve been invited to events where vegetarian, kosher, low sodium, diabetic and lactose free options are offered for diners. Nevertheless, I am sure, even as a fundraising charity, they’d have been able to assist you with your dietary requirements. If the organizers physically threatened you, I advise you lodge a police report for your safety. Though it is quite alarming to hear that women in DAP nowadays are going around threatening the public with acts of violence!
Sir, as a member, sometimes I too phone the DAP HQ on some issues, and I too would have to wait on occasion for the phone to be answered. I guess its probably due to the fact that as a public funded organization, DAP probably has not enough staff to man the desks. Perhaps they need some volunteers as well.
Bearing in mind it’s a fundraising event; the aim is of course to raise funds. Every other political party I know; sells VIP tables for their fundraisers. Some even auction them off. Are they all racist then? I fail to see how this is a form of class segregation. If that were the case, the very notion of having a fundraiser can be construed as a form of class segregation, as not everyone can afford RM50 to buy a ticket. And I feel its commonplace for VIPs to sit up in front. In a birthday party, the birthday boy/girl is the man/woman of the hour, since it’s their event. In a fundraiser, naturally the people who donate more are the men/women of the hour. Seated with the VIPs also allows the VIPs to see who donated more and probably thank them personally for donating.
Personally, having attended my share of DAP dinners, I have not seen any burly people shooing people from the ‘normal’ seats coming in front to greet the VIPs.Neither is the food served much different from the other tables. At the end of the day, its a appeal for funds, in the form of voluntary ticket purchases.I do not feel you were unduly pressured or forced into parting with your money for the sake of it.
I do agree with you wholeheartedly that any party that is racist deserve to be admonished, exposed and humiliated in a public domain like this one for them to be judged by the people. However, sir, respectfully,I cannot agree with your assertion that the DAP is racist based on what I read in your letter.
As for your complaints on the MBPJ, I’m sure the state government would be more than happy to assist you should you contact them. MBPJ, after all, comes under the purview of the state government and not the political entity that is DAP. Councillors , assemblymen and women and MPs, DAP or otherwise are there to support the people’s needs.If they don’t then the people no longer need to support them.
Isn’t it time, sir, we moved on from the narrow view of race, and adopt the wider view of nation? After all, are we not all anak bangsa Malaysia?
