things that make you go hmmm
As far as i'm concerned, the people who organised last sunday's demonstration operated with their own personal agenda and misled the masses. And the multitude that marched on sunday, marched without a clue. i know a number of people who attended the demonstration. When i asked them why they went, they came up with a number of answers, none of them right.
They said (inter alia),
"what has this government done for us?"
"we have to go, to show them that we're not going to stand for IT much longer... (when probed, they couldn't really identify what IT was, but said) ... you know - we don't get university places or government jobs..."
a grandfather who attended said passionately, "i had to go to protect my grandchildren's future. its' ok. i'm old. i'm ready to die. but what future do these kids have?"
"we are marginalised"
"what has MIC done for us?"
"i didn't get a scholarship (!!!!)"
"how can they demolish our temples?"
And then i asked these people, so why protest at the British High Commission? and the reply was,
"yeah, they are the ones who can help us"
"they only gave us this mess, when they gave us Independence"
and a whole lot of other tedious answers, none of which correspond to, "we are too poor to engage our own lawyers" or "we would like to retire on our allotted US 2 million dollars"...
which leads me to conclude that our entire society must indeed be marginalised, and i must be that rare thing... a genius, for it appears as though i am the only one who can smell the bullshit.
nevertheless, and be that as it may,
it is clear that the dissatisfaction and disappointment felt by the Malaysian Indian society, especially by the lower income groups was the reason so many people walked this Sunday. and you know, good for them, b'cos i think whatever HINDRAF's alleged motives, i think this dissatisfaction and disillusionment was clearly obvious.
i've said it before here, and i'll say it again,
i may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
As surely must all of us. In fact, if the organisers of the demonstration had chosen to march to MIC headquarters to protest against the sell out of this community, i would have been there with a flag. As would you (don't be demure. i know you would have come - if only to urge MIC to have PR courses and public speaking classes to cultivate professional public faces who will do better than YB Devamany and YB Sothinathan).
I think that any post mortem of Sunday's demo, will find that it was an opportunity (which was wasted) for the Malaysian govt and its police to demonstrate globally that:
a. we are a democratic country
b. we allow freedom of expression
c. we don't tolerate police brutality
d. Malaysian Indians are not marginalised
e. not only do we possess 1st world infrastructure, but also 1st world mentalities
f. we are a peaceful country (that allows its citizens to voice dissent)
However, what happened instead was that this government in an act of gross incompetence, very publicly mishandled the situation, and showed to the world (and continues to do so on You tube) that:
a. HINDRAF have a valid and legitimate point that this govt was too SCARED to allow to be heard (witness court orders, the refusal of permits, the idiotic arrests of leaders, road blocks from 22nd November, the term "illegal demonstration" when the thing became illegal because the relevant permits though applied for were refused, tear gas, water cannons and arrests of people having lunch)
b. this government is poorly advised politically
c. its representatives cannot answer simple questions
d. it condones police brutality and police violence
e. it condones the act of shooting tear gas at peaceful demonstrators (who were sitting down)
f. the official media is nothing but mouthpieces for this government
g. the Malaysian Indians are marginalised
h. we are as 3rd world as it gets
How now brown cow?
Clearly, Malaysia boleh!
They said (inter alia),
"what has this government done for us?"
"we have to go, to show them that we're not going to stand for IT much longer... (when probed, they couldn't really identify what IT was, but said) ... you know - we don't get university places or government jobs..."
a grandfather who attended said passionately, "i had to go to protect my grandchildren's future. its' ok. i'm old. i'm ready to die. but what future do these kids have?"
"we are marginalised"
"what has MIC done for us?"
"i didn't get a scholarship (!!!!)"
"how can they demolish our temples?"
And then i asked these people, so why protest at the British High Commission? and the reply was,
"yeah, they are the ones who can help us"
"they only gave us this mess, when they gave us Independence"
and a whole lot of other tedious answers, none of which correspond to, "we are too poor to engage our own lawyers" or "we would like to retire on our allotted US 2 million dollars"...
which leads me to conclude that our entire society must indeed be marginalised, and i must be that rare thing... a genius, for it appears as though i am the only one who can smell the bullshit.
nevertheless, and be that as it may,
it is clear that the dissatisfaction and disappointment felt by the Malaysian Indian society, especially by the lower income groups was the reason so many people walked this Sunday. and you know, good for them, b'cos i think whatever HINDRAF's alleged motives, i think this dissatisfaction and disillusionment was clearly obvious.
i've said it before here, and i'll say it again,
i may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
As surely must all of us. In fact, if the organisers of the demonstration had chosen to march to MIC headquarters to protest against the sell out of this community, i would have been there with a flag. As would you (don't be demure. i know you would have come - if only to urge MIC to have PR courses and public speaking classes to cultivate professional public faces who will do better than YB Devamany and YB Sothinathan).
I think that any post mortem of Sunday's demo, will find that it was an opportunity (which was wasted) for the Malaysian govt and its police to demonstrate globally that:
a. we are a democratic country
b. we allow freedom of expression
c. we don't tolerate police brutality
d. Malaysian Indians are not marginalised
e. not only do we possess 1st world infrastructure, but also 1st world mentalities
f. we are a peaceful country (that allows its citizens to voice dissent)
However, what happened instead was that this government in an act of gross incompetence, very publicly mishandled the situation, and showed to the world (and continues to do so on You tube) that:
a. HINDRAF have a valid and legitimate point that this govt was too SCARED to allow to be heard (witness court orders, the refusal of permits, the idiotic arrests of leaders, road blocks from 22nd November, the term "illegal demonstration" when the thing became illegal because the relevant permits though applied for were refused, tear gas, water cannons and arrests of people having lunch)
b. this government is poorly advised politically
c. its representatives cannot answer simple questions
d. it condones police brutality and police violence
e. it condones the act of shooting tear gas at peaceful demonstrators (who were sitting down)
f. the official media is nothing but mouthpieces for this government
g. the Malaysian Indians are marginalised
h. we are as 3rd world as it gets
How now brown cow?
Clearly, Malaysia boleh!
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