Interlok: The Sinister Motive of BN
The torture, blame and hardship the Indians were made to endure in the last 50 years have created an awareness though it has not ended. Since that day, the Indian community has become sensitive and alert. It has now become a volatile erupting community suspicious of every move and motive of all Parties. With Pressure Groups ready to strike at everyone, each issue is being suspiciously looked upon by the Indians. Both BN and PR have to be on their toes, as benefit of the doubt is given to neither.
By Vetrivel
While the burning of Interlok is being heavily debated, Dr. Mariah Mahmud has come out with an excellent piece by showing her empathy for those against the book while she also does not condone the burning. Not only does it put Indians at ease with PAS but also brings into question of the role played by self proclaimed custodians Barisan Nasional and the PM and DPM’s role in dngineering our society into the future.
Anwar Ibrahim meanwhile lost an excellent opportunity to appease and empathise with Indians when dismissing it as not racial. He clearly misses the mark here. Hence he clearly becomes fodder for bashing as being anti-Indian and strengthening the belief that PR is no better than BN.
Without touching on the P word and circumstances surrounding the controversy, let us analyse the motive the book was made compulsory for SPM students.
The Interlok issue speaks volumes on Barisan Nasional’s motive in indoctrinating our nation with the 1Malaysia frenzy. Looking back, the 1Malaysia Prime Minister and his Malay First Deputy are both responsible for the overzealous fake application of 1Malaysia while stressing that Pendatangs should not question the status quo. Let us see what has been implemented since March 8 2008.
Firstly, the abolishing of the teaching of Maths & Science in English in all schools amidst protests by many NGOs. Results show Tamil schools’ students have improved since its implementation but the so-called ‘Indian Leaders’ just joined the fray without any clue as to what was happening on the ground. Yes, but what is important was that BN got its brownie points from the Malay voters.
Even attacking non-Malays was sub-contracted to other groups. But does this absolve the blame from BN?
Next we see overzealous implementations of 1Malaysia camps which caused a tragedy and death of students. We have the MOE Minister declaring he is a Malay first without knowing the difference of being a citizen in the cultural race he belongs to. This proves the failure of 1Malaysia, which says we are equal but we are not. Confusing indeed! Any sane Malaysian will not claim to be an Indian or Chinese when we are overseas as we do not see ourselves as Indian or Chinese citizens. By race and culture we may be Indian or Chinese but we are Malaysian through and through.
Another implementation that was bulldozed is the compulsory pass in history for SPM students. While it is good to learn history, the subject itself is being scrutinised for being a Propaganda Tool by BN. Are we given historical accuracy or given points of views of certain quarters? What happened to Youth Corps P. Veerasenan and ‘Malaya’ Ganabathy who died fighting the British insurgency? There are many more heroes and incidents the current History chooses to ignore, and this is being tolerated by BN component parties and therefore share the blame.
After 50 years of successfully brainwashing and propaganda from young to believe the only eligible government to rule our country is Barisan Nasional, the Indians will never forget the gifts of tear gas canisters and chemical rain the Government of the day gave in 2007. The torture, blame and hardship the Indians were made to endure in the last 50 years have created an awareness though it has not ended. Since that day, the Indian community has become sensitive and alert. It has now become a volatile erupting community suspicious of every move and motive of all Parties. With Pressure Groups ready to strike at everyone, each issue is being suspiciously looked upon by the Indians. Both BN and PR have to be on their toes, as benefit of the doubt is given to neither. Issues of Kugan, Kg. Buah Pala, demolitions of temples and now Interlok are all looked upon as being attacks by the ruling party and are discriminating the Indians.
So why does Interlok matter? Because Intelok could have been any other novel. But it has to be a 1Malaysia recipe: Malay+Chinese+Indian setting for integration while the subject is Sastera Melayu. Why now? Why not another novel?
It could have been a recipe for success but the premise is in the 1910s of the time the Pendatangs came to Malaysia. Perkasa would surely have loved this notion of telling things as it is – the Indians and Chinese are pendatangs. Without doubt Perkasa has celebrated the author who is a national laureate with awards. Anything with the Perkasa stamp sounds fishy. Utusan Malaysia carried front page headlines with a large photo of the author in tears. As we all know the role of Utusan Malaysia, we should get an idea of the direction all this is heading. From an Indian viewpoint it is very simple; why put our children in a lower pedestal of self esteem to others? Do we need to be told to feel grateful to be in this country? That we are pendatangs whose ancestors were glad to be here as socially Malaya was a viable country compared to India.
Pushing it further down and generalising most people as the Lowest Caste is indeed mischievous. Are African Americans made to watch ‘Roots’ and read about Kunta Kinte in literature? To look back at how our ancestors arrived and the struggles they endured have to be looked at accurately. When the African Americans read about Kunta Kinte they will also read about Martin Luther King and in the future about Obama.
So does our history have any positive Indian who was part of nation building? Are our children taught about them? It is a myth if someone thinks there are only 4 castes in India as there are many castes according to profession and hundreds of sub-castes from different regions. So how do ‘most people from Dravida South are lower caste’ ring the bell to readers? What might make others look at them? Does it mean false statements like the colour of the skin determines the caste be accepted? Is mentioning ‘KELING’ not enough to insult us? Do we need more insults?
Do they take us to be fools who are naïve to not be able to see that no matter what handshake is in front, the hand at the back approves religious conversions, body snatching, little Napoleans, discriminating policies, insincere promises, lack of equal opportunities for education, ongoing marginalization, 4th class treatment, subtle polarisation and I could go on ….
BN has not learnt its lesson.
Spending millions for Batu Caves and doing some cosmetic changes and colourful paintings with ugly fat dancing statues in Brickfields and hanging a board called Little India does NOT solve even a single grouse of the Indian comunity. These are smokescreens to keep BN in power with their 1Malaysia rhetoric. What the Indians need are acceptance of marginalization, sincere effort to eradicate problems, amendment of disciminating laws, policy changes, keeping Napoleans in check, reigning back ovezealous officers and being truly willing to listen and come up with a royal commission of enquiry to determine the problems among the community. With its wealth of resources BN only needs to start implementation with discipline and a heart with a willpower to do what is right. MIC (let’s not even talk about them here) is definitely not what the people need. These are clueless people as they are part of BN.
Has the goverment gone to the drawing board to solve 53 years of grievences that was highlighted by 30000 people in the streets of KL? More activist goups will rise if these issues are not resolved. What is going to stop another demonstration or even riots in say 20 years’ time? What has stopped us from going in the direction of Sri Lanka??
It is no wonder Indians are seeking countries which offer them equality and unity in diversity. What more when disunity and racial hatred is being sown in front of our eyes!
