By Dr Chris Anthony
The resignation of Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) chairperson P Waythamoorthy as Senator and deputy minister comes as no surprise if one has been following the political developments in the country. How can a man fighting for the poor and marginalised Indians find a place in today’s BN fully controlled by Umno? How will Umno and its so-called allies in BN struggling to regain their lost credibility and cling onto power at all costs have any time for Waytha and his poor Indians who make up just a tiny fraction of the population?
The action of the BN government in rushing to convict Waytha’s elder brother P Uthayakumar of sedition and send him to jail on the same day and time Waytha was sworn as the deputy minister itself speaks volumes for the respect and regards Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak and his Umno-BN have for Waytha whom they even accused of being a terrorist at one time. It was strange when ordinary people could see through the insincerity of BN leaders, a person like Waytha failed to do so.
I hope Waytha’s experiences over the last 10 months or so as a deputy mister in Najib’s government will open his eyes and make him wiser in his continuing struggles to uplift his poor fellow Indians. I am sure by now he would also realised that Umno and BN are not willing to go out of their way to help the poor Indians out of their socio-economic woes. In fact nobody is going to do that without some hidden agenda. Waytha must work hard to drum this hard reality into the Indians who continue to live in a fantasy world hoping help will come to them from outside.
The Indians must depend on themselves alone to come up in life by hard work, right attitude and self-pride if they want to be respected by others. They cannot and should not depend on Umno, BN or even the Pakatan for their progress, as none will do anything for them as they have their own agenda.
The Indians today are in a very pathetic state. They have become “beggars” in their own country, which they toiled to build together hand in hand with the fellow Malays and Chinese.
They gave everything they had in their service to the nation. Despite all their sacrifices, today they are far behind the others although they had the same opportunities as them. Why are they a failed community today? Who is to be blamed for their failure? By keep blaming others for their failure is not going to take them anywhere. It is not because of others they are poor but due to their own making.
The leaders both political and non-political, experts in the various socio-economic and professional fields and the Indians themselves must have a hard look at the situation they are in today and make concerted efforts to regain their past glory. The future of Indians is in their hands and not in the hands anybody or any powerful force outside either physical or spiritual. The power to change and be counted is within them and it all depends whether they are willing and capable to tap that potential within them.
* The views expressed in this article are the personal opininion of the columnist and this article first appeared in freemalaysiatoday.com
