The Social Impediment

I watched as the young, barefoot Malaysian boys battled it out in their game of football.

With the exception of a few tufts of grass, some stray, misaligned tiles, and a manhole, it was largely a level playing field. All the boys were about of the same height and build even.


To some, it may look like a bleak situation - the boys lived in a run-down rumah panjang meant to be temporary housing. It was located just on the outskirts of the city that is host to the majestic Petronas Twin Towers.

Their ignorance is bliss.

For alas, when they grow older, they will discover (if they haven't already) that they possess a little but not insignificant impediment: they are of Indian descent.

It is no longer a level playing field.

In this country, there are countless deaths in custody, the majority of them being Indian men.

More recently, 5 Indian men were shot dead by the police - merely under suspicion of being involved in criminal activities.

Helen Ang, in her bold but exceptionally relevant article Why we haven’t thrown that slipper pierces my conscience for being part of the motley crew of Malaysians that does nothing to stop this violation of human rights.

In Malaysia, some dark-skinned men are deliberately made to be less equal than others. Malaysian authorities who shoot to kill do not believe that ‘suspected criminals’ possess any unalienable right to life, never mind the too hopeful “pursuit of happiness”.

Successive BN governments have not addressed the root problem of the Indian community’s chronic socio-economic ills – why the gangsterism and involvement in criminal activities. It’s not just Indians who are neglected with no opportunity for social mobility; the itinerant pirated DVD seller – almost always Chinese – is also on the wrong side of the law.

It's not just the Indian men who suffer and die, but somehow the entire community is affected as well.

In the case of R Surendran, his sister Seetha, overcome by grief, ingested weedkiller and offered it to her 4 children as well. She has since died.

Again, Helen in Sad road to Seetha's suicide observes that:

For most of us, we lose our loved ones to old age or they succumb to natural causes. For the Tamil underclass like Seetha, death can visit a male sibling in a hail of bullets or occurring in the police lock-up. This comes about due to the chronic socio-economic deprivation of the community.

So, no, those comfortable armchair critics of Seetha can't even begin to comprehend her anguish and the perennial dark cloud hanging when one is mired in poverty. Her father is a security guard; her husband a lorry driver. Both are low status and low pay jobs.

In other words, the Indian community is finding itself unable to cope.

Seriously, what do we need to open our eyes and that of our fellow Malaysians?