The Dawning of a New Era

It's cliched i know, but i can think of anything better except to say that "A new dawn has arrived"!

The unthinkable has happened, for the first time in 50 years, the various races that make up this nation have collectively agreed to vote to make a difference. No one race could ever hope to impact by itself but by working together we have driven home the point. Something is wrong with the way this country is being run. You can obfuscate,deny,avoid,disavow responsibilty but there is only so much the people can take. Who knows what the catalyst was but i believe that the Hindraf movement is solely responsible for enabling the Indian voters to finally be proactive and change their stance. Apathetic and ignorant we once were but now at least we have shown that we do give a damn.

This election will have far-ranging implications on every facet of Malaysian life. The current administrators of the government will be unable to pass any law or resolution in Parliament without 2/3 agreeing to it. The opposition has more than a 1/3 and thus life will be a different ball game for everyone. I picture stalwarts like Lim Kit Siang, Theresa Kok, Karpal Singh and eventually Anwar Ibrahim making life miserable for the ruling party and ensuring that at least some semblance of transparency takes place.

What interests me the most however is the impact on the Indian community. With both MIC and PPP effectively defunct, the Indian community will for the first time in 50 years be unrepresented in Parliament. Essentially there is no specific party with Indian interest’s as their core manifesto. This what we were told before we voted, and when we voted we kept that in mind and we voted against them anyway.

Truth be told, our political parties have never done anything anway except to create misery and unhappiness. You can sway people’s judgment if you’ve actually been contributing. People have long memories, they might be fooled by promises and insignificant cash donations but in the long run, they know deep inside that they have been made a fool of. This is reflected in the spectacular losses of MIC’s key party leaders.

We are where we’ve always been, not anywhere but just a mass of people that need to be appeased when elections come by. For most Indians it doesn’t matter that we have no political representation, because even when we have had it, it certainly didn’t feel like it.
It’s time to give someone else the opportunity to represent us. DAP and PKR and PAS have made bold pre-election claims. They are for “the people regardless of race,culture or religion”. Now is a good time for them to back their words with deeds. This is our hour of need. We have the most to lose and not much to gain and without political support from our brethrens we will most definitely be regarded as irrelevant and consigned to back pages of history.

It will not be easy for sure, but I believe that finally we have capable Indians who are willing to sacrifice all to ensure the continuity of the race. Most have certainly proven it and it’s because of their deeds that I’m willing to listen to their words.

Is there a hope for a Bangsa Malaysia? Now is the time we shall find out.

Vote for Change

As I write this, the last day for fence sitting is over. Most of us have made up our mind who we want to vote for (I hope!).We have been wooed,seduced,cajoled,threatened and warned. Personally my convictions are set in stone. It's time for a change. I want someone new to be given the chance to administer this country. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not anti-government and I’m not pro-government. I have no issues with the government except for the fact that a lot of employees are just driftwood, floating aimless with no fixed purpose except to collect an undeserved paycheck at the end of the month. (But that’s another blog for another time)

We've given BN the mandate for far too long. It's patently ridiculous that any political party should maintain a monopoly on administration. Complacency sets in. Corruption and it's siblings, nepotism and cronyism become far too enmeshed to be removed any other way except for a revolution. I'm not taking of a revolution in the sense of "let rise and revolt!". It's just means a complete turnaround from the way we used to do things.
A new administration would give us the chance to start over, to enact changes that have real consequences for the public, to draft laws and pass resolutions that point us toward a true democracy. No wants to upset an unstable craft, the status quo for the Princes of the Earth can be maintained but just not at the expense of the other races.

Obviously my idealism gets ahead of me but i have to believe that the country can change. I want to believe that people will see whats wrong with the country as it is now and will be willing to make sacrifices to effect the change we so desperately need. I will not believe that people are by their very nature selfish and ethnocentric and they will not want to change even if it's the right thing to do. It's probably naivete on my part but i can learn to live with it.

If there is one thing i have learnt this past few months; people matter and they can make a difference. The Hindraf movement has single handedly raised political awareness among the Indians to an all time high. It's impossible to bump into another Indian without some mention of Hindraf or the Hindraf 5. All this is because the Indian communities have real life heroes. Every Indian should mention their names in a litany when saying a prayer. I only hope that we Indians will honour their sacrifice by casting our vote for change. It does not matter whether we win or lose, only that we do the right thing. The right thing simply means that for once, the entire Indian community must come together in a show of solidarity and commit ourselves for a cause greater than any one of us can imagine. We are striving to make this wondrous country we call home truly home.

This is the motherland. We are striving to give every Indian the right to be educated and a contributing member of society. What we are not striving for is handouts and affirmative action programmes that favour us. We only want what is rightfully ours.
C0me Sunday, a new era will dawn for Malaysian politics and the Indian people. We can only hope and pray that the change we so fervently wish for takes place. A different administration that will govern in a just manner and an Indian party that will not hoodwink and short change us. The lives of our children and their children depend on the course this country will take. I fear that this is our last best hope for change. The momentum is at is strongest now and quite possibly it will never be replicated. I sincerely hope that my next blog posting will be about new order of change and how BN were defeated.


Told you i'm naive!!

Ruman Taman Sinar Harapan

Kuala Kubu Baru is famous for many things. But not many are aware that a home for the mentally challenged has been situate there for almost 20 years now. The home has a separate section for men,women,children and babies. In most cases the kids are abandoned by parents who don't have the financial resources to provide care or are to bogged down with other activities that require most of their time.

The parents would visit at first. It would be regular visits and the kids would eagerly look forward to such visits. The visits would then start to become increasingly infrequent. Sometimes it was only during festivals that the parents would drop by. In some cases their visits stopped altogether or a couple of years would pass between each visit. A few parents would take their children home for the holidays but this is rare. I personally wonder whether going home is a good idea. Home is a paradise on earth compared to the living conditions they face here. It's a shocking reminder of how bad their life is each time they return.

Lest you think that since they are mentally challenged they will unable to differentiate environments, i beg to disagree. In all the cases, the kids become, morose, unfriendly and difficult to handle. It will be a few weeks before they resume normal behaviour (or what passes for normal behaviour in their place)

I first started going to KKB almost 12 year ago. My first glimpse of Ruman Taman Sinar Harapan (The Ray of Hope Home) is not worth mentioning. I have no recollection and i probably wasn't paying attention knowing my sometimes apathetic self. What i do recall was the intense smell penetrating and invading my olfactory senses. It seemed to be radiating in waves. This physical barrier of smell almost made want to run screaming "take me away,take me away" But i held my ground. If my mom could take it so could it. Gotta maintain macho because there were some young girls as well.

I later discovered that the "bad smell" as my parents put it, came from the the kids ward (which was where our group was stationed) . I discovered to my horror that some of the kids in the "hopeless cases" section were swimming in their own fecal matter. I'm pretty sure that since they shared bed with others they might have been swimming in a joint pool of fecal matter. At that point in time though i didn't feel like quibbling with myself over such mundane matters. All i wanted to know was where the hazmat suits were and why this wasn't declared a biologically unsafe zone.

I was given an apron and pair of gloves. One of the older volunteers, Bro Ravi looked at me, poked at me like i was chicken for slaughter and assigned me to the carrying team.He said " looking at his size, i'm sure he can lift heavy things, can't be that all he has is fat". I was quite hurt by his remarks but i cleverly concealed my emotions by staring at him with hate-filled-eyes. Nevertheless I was quite relieved at his pronouncement (despite the fact that it was pompous and demeaning). Carrying Team sounded pretty easy and maybe it involve carrying rubbish outside or something. My carrying partner was Hamish, Bro Ravi's son. He was this cheerful dude who was a couple of years older and had this aura of laidback-ness which was sorely lacking in his old man. He gave me a quick rundown on RTSH and what our duties were.

Quite simply we would carry the inmates, take them to the bathroom where the bathing team would bathe them. We would then take them from the bathroom to another place where the dressing team would clothe and feed them. Later once their beds were clean we would take them back and we would be done. I kinda felt tired after hearing all that. In my youth, i wasn't neccesarily an active person. I was more into intellectual pursuits, something that most people could never understand. Philistines!

There were two carrying teams and there was no time to waste gibbering. I followed Hamish wondering where the trolleys or wheelchairs were. I asked Hamish what on earth would we be carrying and where are the trolleys or whatever that we're going to use. He laughed this sinister laughter and it was then that i saw shades of his father in him. He said "we're the trolleys", grab his legs . And he proceed to lift the guy, encircled his arms around the inmates chest and waited expectantly for me to lift his legs. I meekly complied.

I feel that i should mention that the said inmate was covered in crap. During the carrying procedure, some transference occurred. (something i learnt years later after watching CSI). Basically i now had crap on my apron and my gloves. It was all i could do to not puke because to say i was disgusted was like saying that i enjoy taking it up the ass.

It took me a while to comprehend that there was actually someone's shit on myself. It's pretty hard to describe one's emotions. A complex medley of self-pity, loathing and aversion would best express it. The only thing that kept me from falling of the ledge of sanity was Hamish. He was smiling and laughing away like he was a 5 year old given his favourite treat. I frankly thought that maybe after spending too many years cleaning other people's shirt he had lost it. A product of his environment so to speak (something i picked up from CSI as well ).

I asked him how he could be cheerful in this.. this.. this place. He said that" i'd rather be me carrying them than being them being carried by me". When you're 17 that sounded really profound. I wasn't completely converted but i was willing to be convinced.

No one knew the inmates names, the volunteers just randomly assigned names to the inmates. There was Ah Mok, Karim, Bala, Joe and many others. Once they had names they stopped being entities and they became regular people. They were trying to survive. Unfortunately for them, they were in a government run facility which was understaffed and underfunded. No one really wanted to work in such an environment much less clean these kids everyday.

Our volunteer group agreed to come every Sunday and clean these kids up. At least once a week they (the kids) would know what it was like being clean. I decided early on that somebody had to do it. I truly cared for the kids and i felt that i could make a difference. Since then i've always had the best time possible in KKB. Whenever someone new came in. I would gave him the same cliched spiel Hamish gave me all those years. It still works!

The Fund and The Indian Community

It's been exactly 7 years ago when Alagappa Nagappan decided that enough was enough. He was tired of talking and planning. He was a man of action and the times dictated that he act. The Indian community was in trouble and somebody needed to plan an active role helping these helpless people.

Since he was on his own, he had the time and the energy required to take on a project. He decided that he would start by helping families by providing food. He sent an email to all his friends telling them about his project and how passionate and committed he was.

February 2001 the kitty stood at RM70. Today the fund is at an all time high of RM5000 excluding items given in kind such as rice and milk powder. The Fund now helps 55 families, two tamil schools and the orang asli community in Klang.

The aim of the fund is simple; providing food aid for poor families where there are school going children who are dependant on a single income earner which in most cases is the mother. Help is given on a case-by-case basis looking at levels of poverty, how responsible the parents are in bringing up the children and if the children are going to school.

The children are the most valuable possession of the Indian community and in our opinion it's our duty to safeguard them in a manner in which we can be accountable for. This is precisely the reason two tamils schools have been given aid in Negeri Sembilan.

I'm happy to add that due to the dedication of the teachers and our help both schools performed excellently. The Kirby Tamil school was the top school in the state for UPSR and the Ladang Lenggeng school was number 3. No mean achievement. This has spurred Fund contributors to take a more proactive role in helping this kids. A number of them made some generous cash contributions to the schools themselvels so that the infrastructure could be improved and other amenities created.

MIC has been approached in the past to help these cases but the representatives make the usual promises and at the end of the day they are either not willing or unable to help. Whatever the case, a void existed and Alagappa chose to fill that void.

Personally this has consigned him to a lifetime of service. He knew that when he started this that it would be a commitment for life. Volunteering isn't as easy as it seems or looks. When you volunteer you are promising someone something. You are allowing someone to depend on you because you have promised them your time and labour. In short term project the commitment level is very low. In this case the commitment level is undefinable. The only way the Fund will end is if poverty ends in Malaysia or if he is dead.

It's not easy to justify the Fund's aim and objectives. It's easily argued that by helping them we are preventing people from taking charge of their lives and absolving them of the responsibilty of trying to succeed on their own. It cannot be denied that there have been cases where the goodwill shown has been abused. This unfortunately cannot be helped. All we can do is sometimes monitor closely and ensure that the homes we help are beyond reproach.

To this end we do consult with the school teachers to ensure that the kids come to school as well as to observe their academic progress. Students with potential are given further help. In Seremban we have a single mother of two who's has won Pelajar Cemerlang prize. This clearly indicates that boy has the academic ability to succeed. As a result his tuition classes are being taken care off. The better he does in school the more help he can expect.

Ultimately we hope that all the kids of the families we are helping finish school and are able to create a decent life for themselves. Education is a basic necessity and mothers who are single bread winners are unable to find jobs that ensure their kids stay in school. This is because the mothers themselves failed to complete school in most cases and are unable to procure any meaningful employmeny beyond cleaning houses and washing clothes.

These Indians are living in a vicious cycle. They seem unable to take control of their lives and escape. Let us at least give them a helping hand. We should at least try and knowing that we have tried, have faith that our efforts will not be in vain.