SARSI?
Instead of asking for the policies, plans and programs of the NEP to be tailored along need (rather than race) basis and thus to include all needy Malaysians, most of whom would be Indians, the proponents of the Hindraf 18-point demands decided to jump on the ethnocentric bandwagon, with an unrealistic expectation that the government will issue an exclusive-to-Indian NEP in accordance with its 18-point demands.
KTemoc Konsiders
Lim Kit Siang announced in the DAP Gelang Patah Declaration a 14-point plan specifically for the uplifting of Indian Malaysians. It’s a good plan though many haven’t been happy with such an ethnocentric scheme when the Indian problems, and let’s not deny there isn’t – au contraire, there’s many – should be remedied as part of a plan for every Malaysian, on a need basis and not along ethnic lines.
Mind you though, Indians face the problem of statelessness more than any other ethnic groups.
But DAP’s 14-point plan was deemed not good enough by Uthayakumar.
Ironically, the current proponents of the so-called Hindraf 18-point demands have been the very people who criticised the NEP, UMNO’s affirmative action program that’s exclusive to bumiputera Malays.
Instead of asking for the policies, plans and programs of the NEP to be tailored along need (rather than race) basis and thus to include all needy Malaysians, most of whom would be Indians, the proponents of the Hindraf 18-point demands decided to jump on the ethnocentric bandwagon, with an unrealistic expectation that the government will issue an exclusive-to-Indian NEP in accordance with its 18-point demands.
Some of the 18-point demands are actually good but as usual, spoilt by unrealistic and impractical demands in others. I wonder whether the ulterior aim has been to ask for the sky and happily expect and accept a much lower offer. But if that’s the case, then may I say that the future of Indian Malaysians shouldn’t be subjected to whimsical poker-style bluff by upping the ante to heights of sheer stupidity – eg. ask for 100 billion, and hope (and will be happy) to receive 100 million.
They sure like to attack 5-year old Pakatan for the 50 year old ‘sins’ of UMNO & MIC
Let’s quickly run through a few of the so-called Hindraf 18-point demands to examine what I consider to be totally and absolutely impractical, unrealistic and really, preposterous:
In an earlier post Marginalization of Indians – the true story I commented on one, its Point No 18. Let’s pick that up again and see what I had written:
(18) A minimum of 20 Opposition members of Parliament are elected exclusively by the Indian Community to represent their interest at the highest political level and also as a Parliamentary Democracy check and balance and the same is safeguarded and entrenched into the Federal Constitution and which is to be increased proportionately with the increase in Parliamentary seats.
What kind of democracy or bullsh*t system will that be? I can only think of one word – racist!
Instead of attempting to overcome the evil that is racism, which no one would deny is prevalent in Malaysia especially the worst kind, institutionalized racism, Hindraf has instead jumped on the racism bandwagon by attempting to carve for itself and the people it claims to represent a cozy racist ghetto …
… and I wouldn’t be surprised it expects its own members to play the role of the so-called minimum 20 Opposition MPs.
That’s what I mean by preposterous or monstrously absurd or harebrained stupidity. Tell me, just how will that demand help the marginalized Indians? To me, it seems the proposer wants to have his exclusive 20 MPs (no doubt including himself) to lord over and perhaps play the fantasized role of a Bollywood Puratchi Thalaivar, and no doubt to use his exclusive parliamentary leverage to become kingmaker.
MGR as Puratchi Thalaivar
More importantly, how does the proposer expect such a demand to be met, indicating a Kafkaesque mindset that’s totally unhelpful or contributory to the real needs of the marginalized Indians.
It’s MIC all over again. He might as well ask for the state of, say, Perlis, to become an autonomous state exclusively for Indian residents where he can be its Chief Minister of SARSI (Special Autonomous Region Specifically for Indians).