Malaysian First, Indian Second

The only reason he decided to carry a gun was because the Indian community dashed his dreams or even didn’t show him life is way more beautiful compared to violence.

Navinn Rajendran

I am a Malaysian Indian. Yes. Malaysian first, Indian second. I kind of don’t know how I’ll survive in India if Malaysian Indians are forced to go back but somehow nothing is like Malaysia. The best decision that my grandparents made in their life was to stay put in Malaysia.

Wait a minute. What do you mean by stay put? Didn’t the British bring Indians to Malaysia? Errrmm. Let’s look into some history before we fast forward to the present situation.

Indians had been trading in Malaiyur, which is The Land of Hills way before the British came by. The British kind of needed some help in plantations as they were too lazy to do it themselves and brought our grandparents to Malaya. When they decided one fine day that they had scraped enough, they decided to leave. But Indians weren’t as significant compared to the 916 or precious gems to loot back.

So an easy way out was to establish a united country that is peaceful among various races. Of course they left the buildings and railroads. Those were just consolation gifts by the way. But Navinn, why did you say stay put? There was a point of time when the government gave our grandparent a choice to either give up their citizenship and get their ass back to India or remain as Malaysians. Many left. Many stayed.

If you take up the property grants in the vital areas across the country, the first owners would be Chettiars. Who are Chettiars lah dei? They are kind of the good kind of ah longs back then. The Indians that stayed did not forcefully stay. But the trust they had in Malaysia made them stay.

For the first time they realised they could blend in graciously amongst other races, traditions, and beliefs. The country had nothing back then except UNITY. I mean, Malaysia wasn’t poor. Everyone was interdependent and economically we were taking baby steps. But as much as we were progressing in unison, there were some inclusiveness among its races.

Everyone was united as one in general and at the same time community progression was a main agenda among communities that shared a common interest. And the only community that was overlooked in the future in pursuit of self-sustainability was the Malaysian Indians. A system was not put in place to allow a smooth transition from estates to towns and cities.

Values declined amongst community leaders as everyone was looking into their own personal interests. It is not wrong. So much of hardship a Malaysian Indian goes through to climb up the society ladder and he wants to safeguard this for the coming generations. But if only everyone took some initiatives to peek through the common interest, we would have to be where and how we are now. If only every wrong doing was questioned, we would have proper channels laid out to seek assistance. We are so blinded that we don’t really know what is actually important. We have been throwing our energies in the wrong direction for many years. Wanting to change a 20 year old problem in 2 days is atrocious. But we have to change, right? We don’t have a choice.

Evolution is so rapid that if we fail to move alongside, we will be left way back that even the thought to catch up will not be sufficient. The Malaysian Indian community is in dire state. Period. Our efforts to uplift the community might be valid but not efficient. The core issues of the community are just a handful and if they are addressed genuinely, changes will take place. Remember, we are not carrying on a journey that begun way back. We are starting fresh. Starting from a dot. It’s either now or never. Whatever resources in any way available to the community is a tool to rebuild the foundation of the community.

Do I sound racist? Navinn is talking all about Indians but claims to be a Malaysian? Every positive progress an Indian makes is a progress for Malaysia. There is nothing other races can do when an Indian guns down another Malaysian in a broad daylight. Others can only expect the law to protect them in removing these heartless Indians from the streets. One way or another. The only reason he decided to carry a gun was because the Indian community dashed his dreams or even didn’t show him life is way more beautiful compared to violence. The ones that point to others for their shortcomings fail to realise that the other fingers are pointing to them. We will rise. We will fight our battles and contribute back to Malaysia in a rightful way. We will be significant not just for votes but for the common well being and for the Malaysian Dream.