Hindraf, proud day for Malaysian Indians
Images taken from AlJazeera
My Dad and sis were at the Hindraf(Hindu Rights Action Force) gathering this morning to support the Petition being submitted to the British High Commission. This is her story.
Today was a proud day to be an Indian in Malaysia! We have awakened from a long sleep! Wanna know why?
Let me tell you my story, as one individual that formed one of the hundred thousands that were gathered around the British embassy in several areas despite the tear gas, water canons containing chemicals and police road blocks.
My dad and me decided to take the LRT to Ampang Park LRT Station which is the closest to the embassy. Reason being many of the main roads were closed. However, we met our first obstacle. The train did not stop at the KLCC station and neither did it stop at the Ampang Park station. A true Malaysian, a Muslim, told us that both stations were closed and that the train will only stop at Kg. Baru, a station before the KLCC station and Damai station, a station after Ampang Park. He even told us the way to get to the gathering and this is without we requesting any information from him. This is a person who understood the reason for the gathering. It was not a gathering purely for the rights of Indians but Malaysians as a whole.
So, we got down at the Damai station and started walking towards KLCC. A large group of people were following at the back of us. Very proud to have such support, we started walking even faster. Suddenly, we saw a group of people walking from the opposite direction. One young man stopped to inform us that tear gas is being shot by the police. He asked us to turn back because the effects of the tear gas was so bad that we would not be able to take it. We told him thank you for the information and that we have come so far, we are not going to turn back just because tear gas is being shot. We continued to walk towards KLCC. The large group behind us was also marching with us. We finally reached the Jalan Semarak junction.
We heard screams from people. We were shocked to see the amount of FRU trucks parked there and FRU personnel on a frenzy of shooting tear gas towards the crowd. They were shooting everywhere. One of the cannisters actually hit a guy and left his back swollen. He did not give up. He washed his back and continued to walk to find another location to gather. He was not ready to go back till the purpose he was there is reached.
My eyes and skin were burning as if hot water was splashed on my face. My nose and trachea was also burning. Once again, the true Malaysian spirit was seen. A Muslim family from Kg. Baru actually gave us water and helped us to wash off. I had tears in my eyes to see this show of support. We were always being led by the false impression that the Malays are not happy with the Indians and the Chinese. However the truth is, the Rakyat have no problem with each other. It is the politicians that create their own stories and cause racial problems. Let be UMNO, MIC or MCA. Our government failed to see that we are not Malays, Indians or Chinese. We are Malaysians. Why can’t the government accept this fact?
Anyway, back to my story. Once the effect of the tear gas wore out, we continued our journey to the embassy. We were not deterred. It took around 45 minutes to walk up to Renaissance Hotel. We had to stop there. We could not walk any further as there were police blocks. In the road in front of the hotel we saw a large gathering. We joined the group. We kept walking further in in the midst of the crowd. Then we heard people cheering. We saw our young leaders standing proud and giving their speech. There was Uthaya Kumar, Manoharan, Surendran, Tien Chua, Razak and other leaders. They gave speeches that would ignite the spirit of every Malaysian.
No one spoke purely about Indians although there were the Indian sentiments mentioned. We were asked to ensure that we register ourselves as voters tomorrow and show the need for change through democracy. We told to be peaceful no matter what happens and was warned against the use of force to achieve our goals. They told the crowds to not get carried away with other issues and were very focused on only one matter, we want our voice to be heard and our rights granted to us and lastly, to be respected as a Malaysian. No more accusing that every crime is committed by an Indian, no more deaths in prison which are usually Indians. They were pure truthful leaders who had no hidden agendas. They did not represent the political parties but merely individuals who are fighting for the people’s rights. Once the speech was over, we were told to disperse peacefully. The crowd quietly dispersed off. There was no property damage or outburst of feelings. It was so peaceful. It felt like I was in school once again on my way back to the classroom after the usual Monday morning school assemblies. It really felt good.
The message that was passed to the Malaysian government and the Malaysian Indian Congress, the so-called representatives of Malaysian Indians is that we are no longer going to tolerate and allow ourselves to be bullied. If we are not given our rights, we are going to fight for it. We are not going to keep quiet and allow the so-called representatives to speak for us. Enough is enough!!!! 30 years of suffering and no more to add on. I want my child to say proudly that he/ she is a Malaysian. I don’t want my child to go through what I had to. It is so heart breaking to say that I am an Indian even though I was born in Malaysia and my parents are Malaysian.
TODAY OUR VOICE HAD BEEN FOUND AND THERE IS NO WAY WE ARE GOING TO LET IT FADE AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Others covering this great event.
Poobalan AlJazeera PoliceWatchMalaysia Malaysiakini Mahaguru5 Abinesh BMahendra BMahendra(Tempsite)
77 Responses to “Hindraf, proud day for Malaysian Indians”
Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments
My dear friens pls dont throw words.There are so many malays that are not idiot like the people giving comment here.Like Tiga Line n others.I spend more than 5years in Kelantan n till now i love the people there.We live like brother’s.I dont want to talk anything about my brother’s but not idiot malay who talk stupid n dont know what there are talking about.I think now lets bring down Mr Samy Velu rule and his MIC babies who has done nothing to us or anyone.My dear MALAY friens pls dont talk about looks or anything.U guys know sumting…pls go n search what is MENON people n hw we look.My Wife is a kashmiri jain doctor.Malays love bollywood but dont forget we Malayalee is running bollywood in India because of our looks.Pls dont shame yourself.Its not about Tamil alone we non Tamil also are together n there’s a reason why this is goin on.I dont care about idiot because all my MALAY friend are behind me…because we are lawyer n there are so many thing is wrong in MALAYSIA…we knew it since we handle so many cases..
You boleh beli M16 rifile dari Thailand. Manayak murah. Bila polis tembak gas, you tembak M16 ke polis soothe. Semua polis manayak gumuk, tak boleh miss.
sam, dont be so fool childish. Dont you ever use that babi word to Malay people. Have you forget about the tym before independences?? listen here you stupid fool sam, Malay peoples at that tym were protected us just like their own family even we are just migrates people at that tym. Even my disabled (blind) grandfather almost been killed by the komunis. And i m very touching when my grandfather said that the reason he was not been killed at that tym was because he being covered by his own bestfren (MALAY) who been killed by shots from komunis. And at that tym, Malay peoples were very kind to give a part of their foods (even they dont have enough for their own) to give to migrates indian families. Dont simply talk with your tiny knowledge, ask our grandfather about it.
And to all people “behind” HINDRAF.. might be america.. might be anwar ibrahim.. I beg u.. dont u ever try to harm Malaysia, I rather give u my life, you can even killed me but please stop your work by dragging my race indians in realize your own agenda.
dear gopalan,
M16?? Sorry,we are not promoting terrorism rite here. Indian people are not terrorist.
dear gopalan,
M16?? Sorry,we are not promoting terrorism rite here. Indian people are not terrorist…
All Indians of Malaysia, you should continute your protests against the Malaysian regeime. Most importantly, you must NOT negotiate with MIC. In fact MIC must be made irrelevant!!!!! I know that the idiot Pak Lah’s department is now insisting on indians going through MIC to address any greviances. This will be a big mistake as the cause of alot of problems do infact stem from MIC and in particular that corrupted, bald, bastard mandor, Sammy Velu.
For the rest of you educated Indians, please consider leaving Malaysia. Theres plenty of jobs overseas for engineers, doctors, accountants, it, etc. Believe me, the grass is greener overseas. I left Malaysia 10 years ago at the height of the economic crisis, and today I live and work in Australia. In case you may not know it, Australia is in the middle of a booming economic market. We have shortage of every professional, especially engineers. We cannot pay enough for people to come and work here. But what is surprising is that not many people really understand the size of the economic boom here. To me it resembles the hey day of Malaysia’s boom of the 1980’s under the reign of YAB Dr Mahatir. If you are skeptical, please read some of the Australian main stream newspapers to get an feel for what is happening here.
For you professional indians, give overseas a try for a few years. I am sure that most of you will open your eyes to what is happening in Malaysia and if you do go back, then you can help open the eyes of others in the country and perhaps can make a difference in the long run. But, I suspect, that once you taste life in outside Malsysia, you will not want to reutrn to the drudgery of Malaysia where you are no longer treated with respect.
Malaysia, on the other hand, is decending into chaos. Society is in meltdown. The dream is gone. I hear that the crime in Malaysia is now so rampant that even the police are afraid of the criminals. The indons practically rule the outskirts of the country, running riot, raping and pillaging throughout the fringes of the cities. Even in parts of KL, people have to erect fences to protect their houses from thiefs, rapists and muderers.
I heard first hand accounts of fire brigade officers requesting bribes before they would intervene to fight house fires. On one of this ocassions, an old chinese man was caught in his room but the fire brigade refused to enter until they received a fee from the owner. To this response, a couple of Indian youths braved through the fire and straight up into the razing building to free the elderly individual. The crowd that gathered there then turned on the fire brigade and police had to intervene to stop this blowing into a riot. FYI, this occurred on Jln Klang Lama in late 2006. But, this highlights what is wrong with Malaysia.
I am no longer a Malaysian citizen. However, I maintain keen interest in what is occurring in Malaysia. The time of the Malays will soon come to an end because of the rise of Indian and China. It is now up to the Indians and Chinese to ensure that these countries put pressure on the Malaysian government to redress the wrongs of the Malaysian government. Bring your plight to the governments of these countries. Let their industrialists know what is going on. Once the greedy UMNO see investment moving away from Malaysia, they will have no choice but to change their tone.
That notion of the Tanah Melayu and Malays rights have to be destroyed in the constitution of Malaysia. While I am no longer a Malaysian citizen, I never once felt that the soil of Malaysia did not flow through the blood in my veins. It flows as strongly now as it ever once did. I flows in each and every one of you if you were born there. The Malays do not have exclusive monopoly on this. Citizenship is only a silly paper formality, made sillier by governments like the Malaysian government who gives it little value.
Some people in the preceding discussions talk about risk of burning the bridges between the races in Malaysia. I think that you should stop deluding yourselves. The bridges broke long ago. Malaysia has been polarized long enough now for at least two generations of Malaysians to know this. So please wake up!!!!!
If the bridges were not already broken, then why would the Melayus speak about taking out their lousy “keris” except to stick it into you.
I am student in Selangor. Today four policemen came to makan at my mother’s stall for lunch. I mixed pig curry into the mutton curry and served policemen. The policemen were so happy with the taste, they ordered another round. My mother did not know what I did because she was not in the stall at that time. When she came back, I told her and she nearly got a heart attach. Anyway I think it is ok to feed pigs with pig meat.
selvi…u are worse than any babi.. u are not sensitive at all to other religions nor cultures..u are a DISGRACE to Malaysians…
elo fren can u stop fighting wit the muslims…im also a hindu i hv muslim kristian frens also////just tat a few rotten ppl are creating havoc between us …..n all the indians n muslims will be fighting….we are all same jo…..from The same God onli diff religions….tatz all so stop the fighting n start praying to the own respective God tatz alll……………..so chill n enjoy life
hey selvi!!!!!
y r u doin’ dat.. that was too much..
we r not against police or govt here, we just want to claim for our own right. U know dat Muslim people cannot eat pig rite? then y did u do that??!!! seriously, im totally shame, angry, and frustated on what u have done, eventhough i am an indian. U r too fool selvi.. seriously i said, u r too fool..!!!!!
HEY selvi!!!!!
y r u doin’ dat.. that was too much..
we r not against police or govt here, we just want to claim for our own right. U know dat Muslim people cannot eat pig rite? then y did u do that??!!! seriously, im totally shame, angry, and frustated on what u have done, eventhough i am an indian. U r too fool selvi.. seriously i said, u r too fool…!!!!!
Don, you are right.
Guys we have to stop this, there is no point talking bad about other races. No one is perfect, humans are designed this was. Were you born a racist? I think not, it’s something we pick up along the way. It’s time for us to be matured about the situation and work on it in a peaceful manner.
Please guys, this article by my sis started out about Malaysians and now it seems to be going south….
Selvi, what you did is wrong. I would call it a low blow to do something against someone’s religion. Totally wrong and I hope you don’t do it again please….
We want to live in this country peacefully as Malaysians with the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Punjabi, and all the other races. They all have differences to respect them and ad their religion should be the utmost important to us to maintain long lasting peace.
kids get it why don’t we?
http://www.slide.com/r/lvXEoLIX3z8mtDh54xujbgnnriKJG9Je
I totally agree with Gunalan above. The only way to improve ourselves id through education and knowledge. ( Kai tolil ondrai katrekol, kavalai unnake ellai oppokul ) Our poets have said that decades ago…it is still true.
We Indians are known for the hardwork and loyalty…thats why the british used them in all areas. Malaysian Indians have worked hard in estates and contributed to the economy in the plantation sector. Loyalty prevented them from leaving their employers and their estates. Living in this circle most of them were naive about the city and the transformation. Now that these places have been developed, new careers will need to be explored.
I call all who are affected by developement to educate theit children and in doing so open their eyes to the happenings in our tai nadu. Feed them with positive motivation.
Thannambikai is required if you want to succeed in life. Leave the estates…just like malay youngsters leave their kampungs….remember they are ALL from KAMPUNGS …thats why KL is like a ghost town during Hari Raya!….so we do the same ….malaysia is no more an agricultural country….look for technology, thats where your future is. one might be asking ” kalau macam tu ,apa nak makan )…let the corrupt government think about it.Estates workers are among the lowest paid employments…leave it for good!
I am no longer a Malaysian…but my heart is always here. i come here every year for holidays only.I just got my citizenship by fulfilling a simple criteria ( 4 years).
“waht” above commented that this type of discriminatiom happens everywher in the world including usa and britain…he is dead wrong!
The world out there is much much more fairer than Malaysia.
NO quotas, or special privilages given to any particular community.Eneryone is treated equally…even muslims from troubled countries are invited with open arm and protected here in Britain where I am now a citizen.
I left Malaysia 4 years ago with my wife and family, and despite being a profesional led an average life.
Upon applying for a position I managed to quickly settle for a job and proud to own 2 properties in London ( where even the local english people struggle to get on the property market)
My planned my migration for the sake of my 4 children who I know will have to beg for a seat in the malaysian universities. Here I will have no problems as i will only have to spend half a months salary for their university Tuition Fees.! and exams results are the entry qualification. ( not a BUMI title!)
It is sad these benefits are not available for Malaysian citizens in Malaysia. I will not be surprised my niece who recently obtained 8 A ones in the SPM finding it difficult to further her studies in Mal. Uni’s.
There is so much to say but time is limited….do it now …fight for your rights but do it carefully and peacefully. Formation of a new political party will be a good idea. Ensure all eligable voters are registered …IN TIME!
Finally, hats off th MR Gunalan for highlighting the idea to our fellow indians. With the naturally proven abilities which we have, looking west should be a good iidea for now.
One more thing, yes the bridge of harmony is long broken…..by silly government policies. The opposition is also weak too. I saw Mr Lim Kit Siang’s argument on youtube….i felt very proud of him…looks like he is still fighting!
Deny Barisan its 2/3 majority. Show the world that you can still make the DIFFERENCE. Spread the news and make sure the opposition wins a larger vote….this time.
Though not a Malysian I was in Malysia for an year.I really pity teh state of Indians there No rights for them in a society dominated by Indians NO education no jobs only always supression!
Why did this scenario happen Only the Indians to blame!
Tortured and Supreessed by the Racist Malay Goverment
This is Aparthied We should wake up stand up and fight
This rally was a sign of that I hope Badawi has woken up now If he dosent wake up and I am warning him that theres a hell a lot problems wawaiting for him!
You fucking hindus are where you are because of your pathetic inferior mentality and social structure. Look at india and its pathetic conditions..you wanna blame that on the Malays too? Balik kampung la keling. Jangan cabar Melayu. Nanti sampai anak dalam rahim kami akan bunuh
Dear Tiga Line!!!!
Your comment was really hurting. But its ok. Its your view. Everyone is free to have their word but degrading another human, I don’t know what to say about.
I am sad that you see things differently. But what can I do. As for me, I respect every living thing on earth and never degrade anything. I have no rite to degrade another person and I think no one has such rite. If you call me a paria, then I am proud to be a paria. If you call me a slave, I accept that too.
Thanks for your comment.
Dear Burn Nair, u are rite. We have to show that we are intellctual, peaceful and a strong community. We have to change the way the world looks at us. We are not gangsters…drunkards. We are civilised people. let us demonstrate that to the world.
I read “A Malaysian” comment. He is rite. Yes, we have good things in Malaysia. Yes, perhaps we even have e better life than we will have in India.
But that is besides the point. I am not an Indian. I am a Malaysian. I don’t like to be tagged an Indian just because my grandparents were from there. I am also a Bumiputra. If I am not, please explain what does the term bumiputra mean?
We have a temple every corner. We have govt funds given to us. Job opprtunities given to us.We have good things but all these good things come to us on a quota basis. What we ask for is for the removal of that. I know the quota can be found in any country but every country has a responsibility towards its people. Every single citizen has to be given equal rites and should not be shut off because the quota for that particular race has been reached.
I don’t get one thing. Why is everybody saying that the Indians are begging? HINDRAF gathering was not a violent gathering. After 9/11, people gathered to pay respects. When Princess Diana died, people gathered.People gather when there is a rock concert. People gather for religious purposes. All these gatherings were done peacefully rite? HINDRAF gathering was to hand in a Memorandum. Why is that violent.
U asked us to use a different method to ask for our rites. Pls give some. Please read my comment to Sham on 26 & 27 November before suggesting a plan.
I am proud of Hindraf for we Indians have realised and have awakened now. We should be united and work together as a family. There should not not be any jealously among our community. We should be like the Malay who cover up for their race.
As far as Hindraf continues its mission to get what its people wants we will be happy. And the future of children will be save and harmonious.
For instance a malay lecturer at my college was insulting her Hindu students by saying
“Protest. Protest! Orang gila dan bodoh sahaja protest. Apa kamu semua dapat. Tidak akan dapat apa-apa pun. It wiil be an insult if we fail. God Bless Us
I suspect there a curtain people coming here a trying to instigate some racial issues guys. Many people told me to moderate the comments and only let positive one be shown, that’s not me and I want to be fair. Good or bad you get to voice your opinion.
Everything was fine till the recent week when I started getting negative comment that were very racist, very suspicious activity I would say.
Please forgive me because I am forced to turn off comments now on the Hindraf related post.
Sorry guys