First they…
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
The above poem is very relevant to the situation in Malaysia.
First the right of a woman who was brought up as a Hindu but born to Muslim parents were taken away from her husband and children simply because of faith. Who is at fault? The state apparatus or the situation she was placed in? She was brought up by her grandparents(I wonder where were her parents when she was growing up?) who were Hindus so in essence they were the ones who took care of her. It is a different thing altogether if she knowingly converted to Hinduism from Islam..then ofcourse the authorities have full right. Issue here is the separation of the infant child from the mother and that of the husband from both his child and wife. If the wife has to be rehabilitated, why break down the entire family?
Next we have a very very infamous minister who spewed ‘Racist’ 28 times when another member of parliament asked to clarify his statement that students in Crimea State University were mostly of Indian extraction. see video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8629174732957254786
Then we have the ‘bocor’ comment of yet another minister who obviously, for lack of verbal finesse on my part, an Ultra Male Chauvinist Animal.
And then we have parliament and multi million dollar buildings being ‘refitted’ due to shoddy work. Oops..Yeah terlalu banyak bocor la tu.
And yeah, we still get called ‘Pendatangs’ because apparently we’re not Malaysians enough. Nevermind that many ’NON’-Malaysians fought for King and country and brought independence to this country. And oh yeah,did I forget, we were here for atleast 100 years some dating more than 4 centuries!
not to mention, we have another minister who apparently thinks that successful Indians are lighter skinned. Sigh, I guess Gandhi, Honourable President APJ Abdul Kalam (President of India or has he stepped down already?), Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan are all poor poor people. The thing is skin colour = high-caste= better success is a flawed equation that does not hold true (at least for Indians) in Malaysia or the rest of the world. Many of the world’s pionering South Asians were both dark and fair. And if that minister were to look at the Malaysian context, considering that most Indians in Malaysia are of the so called dark hence lower caste (I’ve no Idea how he came to this conclusion), Dr. S.S. Thiruchelvam(World’s first Asian Surgeon from Malaya, according to wikipedia), Datuk Dr Jegathesan (aka the flying doctor), Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, Tan Sri Gnanalingam, EEC Thurai Singam, John Thivy, D.R. Seenivasagam, Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam,Punch Gunalan,R. Thampipillay,Tan Sri Devaki Krishnan and many others were gasp…dark Malaysian Indians!!!!I dare this minister, yes the so called Yang Bahagia Jamaluddin Jarjis to go to India and say that (I wonder what will President Abdul Kalam will do to him). And oh..btw..did I also forget to mention, among the winners of the highest medal of valour for the country, Seri Gagah Perkasa was an Indian..yes a dark fellow…to the detriment of Mr Jamaluddin Jarjis. His name was Captain Mohana Chandran al Velayuthan. The list of award winners can be found here. His exploits are chronicled by a former army officer, Major D.Swami in his blog here.
I think Marina Mahathir summed it the best here in one of her musings.
" Well…if non-intelligent and non-capable people become maids in Indonesia, how come in our country they become MPs?"
