Indians in Malaysia can certainly do with a bit more of that elusive quality: Unity.
— Anon
No offence. Malaysian Indians are the most disunited race in the country. But if you think this phenomenon only occurs in Malaya — and is not an issue in Sarawak — you are very wrong.
I say Sarawak Indians, despite their population being miniscule — perhaps slightly above 10,000 out of the state population of 3 million — are sadly as disunited as their counterparts across the South China Sea.
Before I continue, I would like to explain why I chose Indian unity as my topic this week. My good friend Anthony Ramanair, who is Indian Association Kuching president, invited me and several other heads of Indian-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for a dialogue on Nov 21. The topic is on enhancing unity among Indians.
I gladly accepted. I told Ramanair that it was about time such a dialogue was held to find ways to bring the fragmented Indian community together.
I have researched extensively on the Indian community in Malaysia and those living in other countries, and I have a vast collection of books and materials in my home library about Malaysian Indians and the global Indian diasporas.
While Indians worldwide are doing extremely well, it is however a different and sad scenario in this country. Though many would point the finger at successive leaders in Putrajaya for their plight, I would put the blame squarely on the community itself. Yes, for being very disunited.
First and foremost, Indians are a highly heterogeneous race; there are so many ethnic groups, and a few hundred dialects and languages. On top of that, regions still divide us (some of my Indian friends in Malaya still consider and categorise themselves as NORTH INDIANS) — perhaps they find it difficult to detach themselves from their ancestral land; to these fellas I say “balik to that country lah”. They don’t deserve to call themselves as Malaysians!
Then our community is further divided by religion — Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam, Buddhism, etc, etc.
The wide disparity existing within the Indian community is a reality deeply rooted in the history of Indian migration to this country, euphemistically referred to as “labour” and “non-labour” migrations.
Tamils form 70 percent of the 2 million Indians in Malaysia with other groups like Malayalee, Punjabi, Telugu, Gujarati, Sindhi, Bengali and Ceylonese Tamil forming the rest of the population.
When the British recruited two types of Indian labourers in the 19th century, they occupationally segregated the community. The white-collar labourers were administrative clerks or managers (Ceylonese Tamil and Malayalee groups), the policemen and soldiers (mainly from the Sikh community) and the indentured labourers were Tamils from South India.
The bottom line is that Indians are a disunited lot in this country, each one looking out for his own interest.
Surprisingly, this problem persists even within our small community in Sarawak.
The socioeconomic problems faced by the Indians as a whole today are the result of their disunity. They could come up if only the more successful members of the community could help those who are not as successful, instead of focusing their energy on fault finding.
Indians may have a high ratio of academic excellence, but sadly, there is still a large gap within their social strata.
They constitute about 15.5 percent of professionals in the country. According to published figures, doctors make up 28.4 percent, lawyers (26.8 percent), dentists (21 percent), veterinary surgeons (28.5 percent), engineers (6.4 percent), accountants (5.8 percent), surveyors (3 percent) and architects (1.5 percent).
Indians are now also entering the business world in significant numbers. Most of them are from the Sindhi, Gujarati, Punjabi and Indian Muslim communities.
Individually, many have come up on their own — like the Chinese — without government aid. But unfortunately, because of disunity, we have not been able to enhance the overall status of the community.
It’s about time the Indian community changed its mindset, and moved towards being independent. But this can only be achieved if each successful Indian — regardless of his or her ethnicity — becomes more involved and helps the less successful member of the community.
At one time, I used to have heated arguments with an Indian lecturer from Unimas who felt Indians often see themselves as oppressed and not given the same opportunities as the Bumiputeras or Chinese.
I have a different view. The success of the Indians should come from within ourselves and how we make the most of the opportunities that are readily available.
There are also too many Indian NGOs set up to purportedly help the community. But, I am afraid, leaders of many of these organisations are more interested in popularising themselves and lobbying for business opportunities, or even political mileage. This is the dilemma that has trapped the Indians in the dark tunnel.
I appeal to all Indian-based NGOs, especially in Sarawak, to unite in the interest of our future generations and I wish the organisers of the upcoming Indian unity dialogue all the best.
I end with this quote from the late internationally-renowned parasitologist Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr CP Ramachandran:
“We are all Indians. Whatever the precise shade of our complexions or shape of our noses, those outside the community perceive us, as Indians. We should not be ashamed of belonging to the Indian community. We come from one of the oldest civilisations in the world and this behoves us to carry ourselves with dignity and distinction.”
