'Rectify injustices suffered by Indian M'sians'

INTERVIEW National Indian Rights Action Team (Niat) chairperson Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim is not prepared to take up political office unless there is an affirmative action policy to help the Indian Malaysian community.

He was asked to comment on speculation tipping him as a candidate for menteri besar in his home state of Perak.

Thasleem confirmed that Pakatan Rakyat had approached him to contest either a state or parliamentary seat in the next general election, but that the possibility of appointment as menteri besar had not been mentioned.

Nevertheless, he turned down the offer.

“To me it’s very simple. Unless a clear cut affirmative policy for the Indian community is in place, I’m not interested,” he said, given that he has been crusading for this for more than 30 years.

Best known for spearheading the campaign against the use of the novel Interlok for Malay literature in school, the Tamil education activist said he was prepared to toe any party line - as long as it was “fair, equitable and just”, but said the injustices suffered by the community have not abated.

He said Pakatan’s policies had been ad hoc and unacceptable, and there was a need for the coalition to have a think tank from the community to “bang tables behind closed doors”.

“I don’t think they will do it,” he said.

Thasleem also said Pakatan’s efforts to solve issues related to Tamil schools and Hindu temples were no different from those of the BN.

While praising Pakatan for at least being willing to “sit down and listen”, he said the federal opposition coalition needed to do more, including detailing plans for uplifting the poor in its election manifesto.

“What more have you (Pakatan) done? That is my question. What about employment, for example, within the state system?” he asked.

Because Pakatan made promises in 2008 that it could not keep, he said, there has been some return of Indian Malaysian support to the BN.

Thasleem did not mince words in assessing the BN, describing its polices as “systematic discrimination and marginalisation” of the Indian Malaysian community.

“...whatever you (BN) have done after 2008 does not convince me (that there has been) a genuine effort (by the) BN and Umno. It is more of an election ploy,” he said.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s calls to the community to place nambikei (Tamil for ‘trust’) in the government, Thasleem retorted: “Does he even know what it means?”

He said the community has already put 51 years of nambikei in the government, and should stop unless there is genuine effort to change.

“Things like 1Malaysia, for example. Najib, as an individual, is doing everything. I don’t see the others in Umno... Everybody is just echoing what he is saying.

“God forbid, if tomorrow, the prime minister drops dead. What (would) happen? What happened to Islam Hadhari?” he said, referring to the ‘civilisational Islam’ concept advocated by Najib’s predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Passion for education issues

Fleshing out one of his ideas for affirmative action, Thasleem talked about the need for government-funded boarding schools where 80 percent of students would be Indian Malaysians.

“This will not be for the long-term, but at least .. let’s get started,” he said, arguing that this was necessary to compensate for the community’s lower socio-economic status.

Education should be a legitimate interest of the minorities to be protected under Article 153(1) of the federal constitution and there should be no discrimination in its provision, he asserted.

While the education needs of Malay and Chinese Malaysians have been looked after by the government and business community respectively, those of their Indian counterparts have been neglected.

Thasleem’s passion for education issues started early. In 1963, his father’s food supply and catering business was ruined when Indonesia’s ‘Confrontation’ with Malaysia drove up food prices.

“My father was one of the largest contributors to Anderson School (in Ipoh) when it came to sports,” he reminisced.

But hard times forced his family to pack up and go to India in 1966, leaving Thasleem behind to continue his studies.

Needing a place to stay, he sought help at a hostel for students but was left embarrassed by the response.

“I said, ‘Look, I don’t have a place to stay’, and asked whether I could join the hostel or at least get a room. (I was told) ‘No, this hostel is only for Malays’.”

He said the episode, when he was just 16, left a “deep wound that has healed, (although) the scar is still there”.

“Maybe that’s why, later on, when I became successful, built a career and built a business, I felt that children should not be deprived of a proper education (just) because they (cannot) afford it,” he added.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/203267