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The news from Malaysia is not very
encouraging. The November demonstrations and the events thereafter
have not brought the Tamils there anywhere near a solution to their
long-standing problems.
The Tamils in Malaysia feel - and
not without reason - that a kind of an "ethnic cleansing" is taking
place there. The memorandum submitted by them to the British High
Commission in Kuala Lumpur entreats the British government to take
the issue to the UN, the World Court and the International Criminal
Court of Justice.
Irked by the 'just' demands of the
Tamils (whose contributions have made Malaysia what it is today!),
the Malaysian government, true to its authoritarian style, refused
permission to hold the rally, detained the leaders and used water
cannons to disburse the peace-loving crowd. The Tamils have a
genuine grievance, of their being totally marginalised in every
field of Malaysian life, be it political, economic, social or
cultural.
About eight per cent of the Malaysian population
comprises Indians. Nearly 80 per cent of them are Tamils.
Religionwise, over 80 per cent of the Malaysian Indians are Hindus.
While dealing with the Indians there, we should
keep in mind an important fact. The standard of living of the Indian
middle class (comprising non-Tamil Indians and Sri Lnkan Tamils) is
very high. But the condition of the workers (read Indian Tamils) is
pathetic. They are not educated. They have no social status. Tamil
medium primary schools are not well looked after. Only very few
Tamil children manage to go to the university.
According to the latest report, the Hindraf
(Hindu Rights Action Force) leader P Uthayakumar was yesterday (Dec
11) arrested, released and re-arrested. This seems to be a part of
the authoritarian government's crackdown on civil liberty activists.
He was initially arrested for posting an allegedly "seditious"
remark on the web. The sessions court gave him bail, while posting
the case to the first week of January. Then, he was re-arrested
under the Sedition Act! This singular, hasty act exposes the
attitude of the authorities.
Of course, any citizen of any country will have
to live according to the local rules and regulations. There can be
no two opinions on this. At the same time, we cannot expect anyone
to live in sub-human conditions. It is a question of basic human
rights and civilised governments cannot escape this fundamental
responsibility.
Read in Tamil
H Ramakrishnan
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