Another Malaysia is Possible (2004)

The Indian Community and Minority Status by Tamil gangsters matches those that are used in Tamil films. The issue really is whether we, as a nation, are ready to recognise the Indian community (and other such communities) as a minority community, protect it legally and provide it with some special rights. This is the starting point for a more effective and enduring solution. 131

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Published in Malaysiakini, October 2000. Context: If one surveyed articles on Indian Malaysians around the end of 2000 or beginning of 2001, one would get a sense of the construction of this community of Malaysians as a ‘problem community’. The critics addressed many issues: gangsterism, the impact of Tamil cinema, political leadership, and Tamil education. Among these issues, the issue of Tamil education was critical. There was a call for its abolition. While this would be welcomed if it was based on hard facts on the ground, the call was based on the myopic gaze of the future of the Indian Malaysian community in Malaysia and of diasporic ethnic culture in a global context. In the last couple of weeks, there has been a good deal of interesting and important comments made on the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community. The guiding thread in all these comments has been the problems faced by the community, the causes of the problems within the community and suggestions for corrective measures. The most dramatic problem that took a lot of space in the mainstream media and caught a lot of people's attention recently was about the menace of gangsterism in the community. If one surveys the various comments carefully, three causes for the problems of the Tamil Malaysian community come to mind. These causes are economic and political marginalisation, Tamil cinema, and Tamil schools. No Benefits Many middle- and upper-middle-class Tamil-Indian Malaysians hold the view that Tamil schools are practically useless. Students in Tamil schools do not benefit either educationally or economically. And, worse, Tamil schools have become a hotbed for nurturing and sustaining vices and gangsterism. So, why maintain an institution that does not do any good for the Tamil Malaysian community and generally embarrasses the Indian community? 133

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? short-sighted, culturally suicidal and politically naïve. Cultural Agenda We need answers to Semparuthi many critical questions before we can even start thinking or understanding the consequences of doing away with an institution. It is easy to do away with an institution but difficult to build one. In fact, I don't think the critics have even thought about the sheer practical problems that will ensue if the Tamil schools are closed down. For many Tamil children, education will become practically unavailable. And what will happen to all the teachers? This suggestion looks like a recipe for further marginalisation. There are more questions. Have we done enough longitudinal investigations to show whether the majority of Malaysians educated in Tamil schools are doing well or not, given the social, economic and political odds faced by Tamils and their institutions? In fact, if the above question is answered affirmatively, there will be nothing to criticise, and therefore no critics, within the present framework. To prove that this will be so, we need not look very far: just take a look at Chinese education in this country. Have the critics really explored why the Tamil schools are not doing as well as the national-type schools in relation to the economic agenda? In this context, people like to compare Tamil education with Chinese education and ask an unreasonable question: \"Why can't the Tamils/Indians organise their education like the Chinese?\" In fact, it is behind such kinds of questions that the focus on the responsibility of the government in a multiethnic society is lost. The comparison is really insensitive to the different trajectories of the histories of the Chinese and the Tamil/Indian people in Malaya, and later Malaysia. Of 134

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? Their solution: Get rid of Tamil schools. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable proposal. But is it? The proposal is based on the assumption that in comparison to Tamil education, putting Tamil Malaysians in the national-type schools will solve the educational and economic needs of the community and it would eventually gain. On what basis is this assumption really made? If the national-type schools are doing better, why are they doing better in comparison to Tamil schools? To make sense of these questions, we need to look at some basics. What is education for? What are its goals? Simply put, education must be able to prepare young people in terms of cognitive, affective and motor skills so that they are prepared to meet the needs of the economy (the economic agenda of education). Secondly, education must be geared towards producing youth who are informed, sensitive and critically responsive to their social and natural surroundings (the political agenda of education). Lastly, it has to groom young people to actively sustain and live a cultural form of life (the cultural agenda of education). In a multicultural environment, all these inter-related and inter-dependent aspects are really much more complicated. To continue with the questions, what is the basis of the \"abandon Tamil schools\" argument? The Tamils are asked to dump Tamil schools because the critics perceive that the national-type schools are better equipped to achieve the economic agenda of modern education. Or, it is assumed that students going through the national-type schools seem to be able to perform well economically later on in life. Really, the critics of Tamil schools only have this to sustain their arguments. Because they feel that Tamil education gets us \"nowhere here\" (read: does not give young Tamils in Malaysia bargaining power in the labour market), Tamil schools need to go. In other words, Tamil schools have failed in their economic agenda and therefore have no right to exist. (Of course, some even feel that they have failed in their cultural agenda, having become a breeding ground for problems, like gangsterism.) As one critic recently suggested, Tamil education is useful perhaps only in Tamil Nadu, India, from where Tamils come from, but certainly not in Malaysia. Though seemingly plausible, this position is really practically 135

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? Is it really difficult for a society and its government – if it only had the political will and creativity – to make the Tamil education stream sufficiently productive by upgrading the schools and its facilities and by improving the standards of its teachers and their performance? In attacking Tamil schools and Tamil education, critics are careful to overlook or avoid an in-depth reflection on the responsibility of a government in educating its citizens in a multiethnic society or on the cultural goal of education. There seems to be little realisation about the direct consequence of this on the economic agenda of education. In fact, some will even tell us that we should stop demanding that the government provides for everything. But education is not just anything. It is about creating the ‘soul’ of a community and nation. It is perhaps not the interest of ‘this government’ but it certainly must be the business of ‘the government’. In fact, there are more areas in which we do not have sufficient information. For instance, how do our teachers deal with ethnicity in a multiethnic classroom? It would be naïve to believe that all our primary and secondary schoolteachers are ethnically neutral and imbued with multiracial/multiethnic wisdom. There have been many cases of cultural and ethnic insensitivity and abuse in Malaysian schools. Has anyone considered what would have been the impact of this on students' performance? Many cases reported in the mainstream newspapers involved Tamil/Indian children in the multiethnic national educational system. While such events have been reported in the daily newspapers, I have not read much on how teachers have been taken to task or made accountable for their ethnic insensitivity. Nor have I come across teacher’s training that incorporates multi- cultural competency. Such a kind of situation certainly affects the performance and morale of Tamil/Indian children, as it must children of any other ethnic community. Ornamental Reason A critic of Tamil education recently suggested that the Tamil language be taught 136

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? course, the leadership of the Indian community is also certainly to be blamed. To continue, have we studied the career path of students in the national-type schools for purposes of comparison with those who are being educated in their mother tongue, in this case, Tamil? How many students from poor Tamil-Indian Malaysian families remain in the national educational system till they reach secondary and tertiary levels of education or benefit from the system beyond the secondary level of education? What are the types of career paths available to young Tamils/Indians? Does ethnicity influence career paths? Are the different educational streams (Tamil stream or national stream) the primary reason that affects a young Tamil/Indian's career path and economic well-being within our ethnically- charged sociocultural environment? The critics seem to be unaware of an important goal of education: the cultural agenda of education. In considering this, have we done our homework to find out which stream helps greater self-development and culturally-stronger identity formation? Have the critics considered the impact of education through a non-mother-tongue medium on children? What is the status of ethnic/ mother-tongue education in this country? What is our commitment to multiculturalism and educating young Malaysians in multicultural competencies? What is our commitment to a culturally-diverse and active national community? Is mother-tongue education the responsibility of a particular ethnic community or the national government? What is the Malaysian government doing for the education of the Tamil minority – and other minorities – in their mother tongue? Government's Business I think there is a need to evaluate the extensive research available relating mother-tongue education to intellectual and emotional development, and consequently, the self-development of a child. Yes, there are practical and governance problems about realising mother-tongue education, the goals of multicultural education or nation building. However, burying our head in the sand like an ostrich will certainly not be helpful in resolving them! 137

Semparuthi Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? the Cause of Violence Another opinion, based on a selective use of mostly American studies on the relationship between media and violence, put forward by the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP), suggests that the central agency causing the problems, particularly gangsterism, within the Tamil community stems from the Tamils watching Tamil cinema. Apparently, the Tamil cinema from Chennai, India, is the cause of Tamil Malaysians straying away from the path of expected positive community development. Solution: Get rid of Tamil films. CAP has without doubt made major contributions to protecting the interests of Malaysian consumers. But certainly it has done an unforgivable disservice to the Tamil/Indian community. Possessing a huge cultural capital and capable of influencing popular opinion, CAP seems to have been able to promote an argument that many, including the Malaysian government, like to parrot. So, in CAP’s view, Tamil films are the cause of Tamil anti-social behaviour. A recent New Straits Times editorial (12 Sept. 2000) offers a view that is contrary to what CAP likes to believe. The NST correctly observed that the characters in the films that CAP, and others like CAP, love to attack – films, like Talapathi and Nayagan, by a sensitive and creative Tamil filmmaker, Mani Ratnam – are really about poor people who have been forced into situations that have led them to resort to violence. CAP seems either completely ignorant or evasive of the complex Indian reality. CAP has also the habit, at least in this case, of offering selective studies that support the connection between media and violence. It mentions some American studies, for instance, while carefully avoiding others that throw doubt on these studies or tries to explain the relationship between the media and violence in a more complex fashion, which I believe to be more realistic. In any case, CAP does not have the last word on this matter. The relationship CAP is trying hard to establish is really a contested one. There is simply no agreement 138

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? in a casual, not institutionalised, way. There is great danger in this. This is a sure recipe for loss of mother tongue in the long run. Language teaching needs to be institutionalised, transmitted and used inter- generationally. There must be social avenues to keep it a living language, and not just left to the interest of this or that individual, or this or that parent. To preserve a culture for ornamental reasons is to insult it. The suggestions of the critic are a sure pathway to the ‘extinction’ of a language (at least from the Malaysian environment). The Malaysian national educational system is hardly multicultural in content and/or practice. Our cultural policy is hardly clear or precise about its approach to mother tongues – certainly more than just Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, or Tamil – in Malaysia, or about paying attention to building multiethnic/cultural competencies. Even in areas of stated intentions to introduce, at the tertiary level, courses on civilisations, non-Islamic civilisations have not been adequately addressed. Thus, the national educational system is an utter failure in terms of education's cultural agenda. Our national educational system is hardly the place to look for an active and informed support for ethnic cultural diversity in this country. The market, mediated by the national educational system, influences a national consumerist cultural outlook. A subterranean theme of the national educational system is to create more of the same, to standardise. In Malaysia, ethnically compartmentalised thinking and action in relation to what I think are national issues, systematic long-term official neglect of ethnic cultural institutions, suggestions of legal difficulties for deferring corrective actions to improve or upgrade Tamil schools, poor leadership and untimely political intervention have the direct potential of killing Tamil schools and Tamil education eventually. We really don't need the critics to accomplish that. But there are hardly any good reasons for dumping Tamil schools or mother- tongue education. In fact, we will be going against an important social current of the present millennium – the active protection and promotion of enlightened ethnic cultural diversity. Marginalisation, Not Tamil Movies, 139

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? include poverty, racial conflict, drug abuse, and poor parenting.\" Melanie Brown, an Australian academic, in a 1996 article, makes the following observation: \"Numerous research studies identify an association between exposure to violence in entertainment and violent behaviour, but do not prove that exposure causes violent behaviour. Rather, there is a risk that exposure to media violence will increase the likelihood of subsequent aggressive behaviour. This risk can be increased or decreased by a large number of other factors.\" Similar counter studies can be quoted at length. The more serious problem with CAP’s attack on Tamil cinema involves the logic of their mode of argument. CAP’s argument – and those who look up to CAP – starts from the media, not the individual or group or society to which he or she belongs. This reversal is really the problem with the ‘media effects’ explanatory model. Essentially, the tendency is to start an explanation from the media and make a flat and unsustainable connection to the individual. This kind of explanation is also highly psychological in nature, losing touch with the social environment. If an explanation starts from the individual-in-community, then the tendency will be to look at the social background, identity issues, race/ethnicity issues, gender issues, etc. In this cluster of effects, media would be one of the contributory factors. It is time CAP stopped attacking Tamil cinema as a central cause of Tamil/ Indian social problems, such as gangsterism, and address the more critical i s s u e s f a c e d b y t h e c o m m u n i t y. Of course, media is not innocent. But it needs to be critically addressed and not causally over-valued. Minority Community A third group of people like to believe that the Tamil/Indian people’s problems are really a result of socio-economic and political marginalisation. Assigning causal status to Tamil schools or Tamil cinema for problems within the Tamil community is really confusing the issue and blurring the focus on the * See http://judiciary.senate.gov/oldsite/mediavio.htm. March 2004. ** See review of Jonathan Freedman’s book, Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence (2002). http://www.joannecantor.com/freedmanreview.htm. March 2004. 140

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? on it. In contrast to American reports, such as Children, Violence and the Media* by the Senate Committee of the Judiciary, released in September 1999, that relate violence in America to the media, there are many more studies that raise doubts about such a simplistic connection. CAP seems to make a moralistic analysis, implying that all violence springs from similar causes or that all violence has the same characteristics. That is a rather naïve understanding of violence or aggression in society. A Lower Murder Rate A 1998 UNESCO global study on media violence suggests that \"depending on the personality characteristics of the children, and depending on their everyday- life experiences, media violence satisfies different needs: It ‘compensates' for their own frustrations and deficits in problem areas. It offers ‘thrills’ for children in a less problematic environment.\" In the discussion on solutions to media violence, the same report suggests, \"What are possible solutions? Probably more important than the media are the social and economic conditions in which children grow up.\" An expert in the field has this to say: \"Children in Canada and the United States watch virtually the same television. Yet, the murder rate in Canada, and the rate of violence in general, is much lower than in the United States. Children in Japan watch probably watch the most violent, the most lurid and graphic television in the world, and the rate of violent crime there is minuscule compared to Canada and the United States.\" In a 1996 article, the same scholar, Jonathan Freedman**, observed that \"Television is an easy target for the concern about violence in our society but a misleading one. We should no longer waste time worrying about this subject. Instead let us turn our attention to the obvious major causes of violence, which 141

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? One, Tamil/Indian Malaysians who are critics of the Tamil school system or Tamil cinema seem to suggest that there is something wrong with the Tamil culture or the way it expresses itself. Indirectly, their suggestions imply that certain popular Tamil cultural forms and institutions should be severely limited, if not completely removed. While cultural criticism is important for promoting societal re-learning, corrective actions and creative cultural intervention and development, the criticism has to be part of a strategy that takes into consideration the ‘larger picture’. Two, such a tendency, in Semparuthi the context of socio- economic and political powerlessness, directly contributes to a subtle assimilation agenda. Thus, for instance, without the proper institutionalisation of Tamil education or the promotion of an active educational system promoting multiculturalism and multicultural competencies or the production of popular Tamil entertainment forms, including Tamil cinema, the unfortunate direction of change would be the progressive loss of Tamil identity. In this context, for instance, we can see a new phenomenon in Malaysia – dark-brown-skinned Tamils taking on the behaviour of, or portrayed as, ‘blacks’! Three, we need to re-think our strategy of building a national Malaysian community. Is it by an assimilation agenda or by actively promoting mother- tongue education and/or multiculturalism? The global society, for instance, is concerned about the many languages and linguistic communities that are on the brink of extinction. According to a recent study, the National Geographic magazine observes that \"half of the world’s 6,000 languages will become extinct in the next century [and] 2,000 of the remaining languages will be threatened during the century after that.\" In this context, we should focus our efforts on preserving and actively 142

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? seriousness of socio-economic and political marginalisation. The Tamils/Indians are a poor minority community and poverty has become an inter-generational problem, with poverty reproducing poverty. Economic powerlessness, the small size of its population and poor political foresight of the Indian leadership have also led to political powerlessness. Consequently, within the national community, the Tamils do not have much bargaining power. The Tamil-Indian Malaysian community and its problems are hardly addressed seriously and systematically in the national context. Perhaps the only problem that constantly gets national attention at present is the problem of gangsterism. Even this is addressed as a punitive strategy rather than a preventive one. As part of the preventive strategy, if there was one, one cannot overlook the importance of upgrading the Tamil school system. Powerlessness in the community has led to many difficulties. For instance, the educational and career options of young Tamil-Indian Malaysian youths are severely limited in comparison to those of the other communities. Tamil schools are faced with serious problems affecting the quality of education that reaches a poor minority community. The usage of Tamil in the marketplace or public places is confined to Tamil/Indian areas. Tamil-Indian Malaysians who have brought fame to Malaysia are hardly treated as ‘national heroes’ and have faced difficulties being recognised or rewarded. A few millionaires, like Ananda Krishnan, produced by the system do not really solve the problems related to the general marginalisation of the community. Ordinary Tamil/Indian Malaysians have an uphill task dealing with their poverty and marginalised status. Serious Implications The assignment of Tamil cinema and/or Tamil schools as the main causes of Tamil Malaysians’ community problems is not only a limited and careless view but also dilutes the focus on more serious preventive measures for addressing the community's socio-economic and political marginalisation. The focus on Tamil cinema and Tamil schools carries a number of serious implications. 143

Is Abolishing Tamil Schools the Solution? promoting cultural diversity, not in terms of ‘museumising’ it for the purpose of selling it to tourists but in terms of living it actively. Mother-tongue education is not really anti-national if we can work out practically how our children, in their respective cultural streams, can also go through national social and cultural socialisation. Four, there seems to be a careful avoidance of the issues of governance in a multiethnic and multicultural society. Instead, critics turn their attention to the consequences of bad and unsustainable governance, instead of addressing the issues of bad or ineffective governance. Thus, the suggestion is to \"get rid of Tamil schools\", instead of an examination of why it has failed or is not doing well enough. This is really punishing the victim. The debate over the problems of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community will go on. I only hope that those in power to influence public opinion and popular action evaluate the situation carefully and propose a line of thinking and action that will help to deal with the cause of the problems faced by the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community rather than the symptoms. 144

leadership and the indian Written in April 2001. Unpublished. Context: A survey of articles published in Malaysiakini between July 2000 and July 2001 by my former student, Li Mei, indicated a number of issues that were of concern to Indian Malaysians. But among the problems, the one that was taken up for critical attention and discussion was on political leadership. The issue of the leadership of the Indian Malaysian community is always a debated one in both private conversations and public discussions. Unfortunately, leadership of the community is seen purely from a formal and political-party point of view. And even this is done in a one-dimensional way, losing sight of the variety and rich leadership resources that are available in the community.* Issues arising from the Old Klang Road-Kampung Medan incident have again directed the spotlight of social analysis on the Indian Malaysian community. Luckily, this time around the concern goes beyond the problem of Indian gangsterism. It goes straight into the heart of the problem – Indian marginalisation and powerlessness. There is an urgent need to address the problems of the Tamil/Indian community in Malaysia. The Indian Malaysian community is, of course, a community of communities like the Indian diaspora. The issues raised here centrally address the problem of Tamil-Indian Malaysians, although they are also applicable to the larger community of Indians. The question that becomes pertinent then is: Who is to offer leadership to the community and confront its social problems? There have been a large number of contenders for this role. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) has traditionally played an important national role. But, in addition to the MIC, * See Francis Loh Kok Wah, “The Marginalisation of Indians in Malaysia: Contesting Explanations and the Search for Alternatives” in James T. Siegel & Audrey R. Kahin (eds.), Southeast Asia Over Three Generations: Essays Presented to Benedict R. O’G. Anderson (New York, Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2003), pp. 223-244. 145

Leadership and the Indian Malaysian Community marginalisation and powerlessness are serious. They need to be urgently addressed very often on a ‘daily basis’. Immediately, they can be addressed by: (i) the community itself, through self-help programmes which put certain NGOs and unions, whether or not they are aligned to MIC, in a leadership position; and (ii) MIC, which puts it in a leadership position. In the first, there is a possible conflict between MIC and NGO leadership. MIC reads any attempt at leadership as threatening to its political existence. The second critical level, i.e. the inter-community level and the issue of bumiputeraism, places the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community in relation with other ethnic communities. Their relationships are clearly defined within the bumiputera - non-bumiputera framework. With the bumiputeras (the Malay Malaysians), being chief beneficiaries of protective discrimination policies, the marginalisation of Tamils/Indian Malaysians is further intensified. The community must therefore obtain favours from the communal coalition, Barisan Nasional, within the defined practice of apportionment of favours for Malays, Chinese, Indians and ‘other’ Malaysians. It is here that MIC operates best in terms of its brief. Whether it has been able to perform well even within this environment is another matter. The third level of nationalism and the issue of general Malaysian citizenship falls outside the MIC’s chosen ambit. This is a region where the political affiliation to the Malaysian state is realised in terms of a general citizenship, irrespective of race/ethnicity, religion or gender. Our cultural citizenship does not influence political citizenship, except to enhance national diversity policies. MIC cannot operate in this environment. Its brief does not include this. The leadership here needs to be taken by multiethnic parties, like the DAP, or NGOs, which work with the communities in terms of such understanding. There are some Malaysians who may have special needs that must be evaluated on a common platform. For MIC to contest at this level for leadership is a contradiction in terms as defined by its identity. The final level, i.e. the global level and the issue of ‘diasporic affiliation’ concerns the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community as part of the global ethno-communal group. Like the Chinese, the Tamils/Indians are found all over the world. There is a diaspora community and being part of this community offers opportunities that may help the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community culturally and economically. Again, the leadership of this would have to be taken by global Indian diaspora organisations, like Global Organisation of People of Indian 146

Leadership and the Indian Malaysian Community there have been other groupings that have played some significant part in defending the interests of the Indian Malaysian poor. Among them, we can name the DAP, Gerakan, IPF, Alaigal, NUPW, Murugan Centre, Indian-issues- based NGOs, public-interest-issues-based NGOs, and special informal groupings/networks like the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), etc. Some of these formations have political interests while others seem to be more concerned with resolving issues confronting the community and have no interest in winning an election, to walk in the corridors of power or rub shoulders with the rich and the powerful! With the problems of the Indian Malaysian community mounting as they become increasingly powerless and marginalised, naturally, many people, openly or in the safety of private discussions, have aired their doubts about the ability of MIC to help the community. Many of these people are supporters of MIC and will, in fact, vote for the BN. They do not trust the others enough, but the point is, they are also not sure of MIC’s capabilities either. They vote, ‘hoping for the best’. There are also those who are ‘understanding’ and say that, \"Well, since it is a small party of a powerless community, they can only do that much. We just have to accept it and live through it.\" To set the leadership of the community in a productive direction, perhaps it is worth examining the many ‘spheres of existence’ of the Tamil/Indian community, and where MIC has a role, where it does not, and where it needs to work with others. In order to arrive at the spheres of existence and influence, let us look at the interaction of the following factors: level of community, central issues at the level, and leadership. The community can be seen to be constituted at the following levels: community, inter-community, national and global levels. Corresponding to these levels, you have the institutional environments relating to the intra- communal situation, inter-communal relationship, general citizenship and membership in the Indian diaspora. These environments in turn relate to issues around powerlessness and marginalisation, bumiputeraism, nationalism and globalism. At the first critical level i.e. the inta-communal situation of of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community, the problems 147

Leadership and the Indian Malaysian Community Origin (GOPIO). Though this organisation is now directed by Indian business interests to tap the benefits of globalisation, it is within their brief to offer leadership to the community. Certainly, not MIC. Given this situation, MIC needs to concentrate on the level at which it is operating, and achieve what it can within that scope. It is also necessary for it to understand that it cannot monopolise the leadership of the community. In fact, it would be to its advantage for it to stick to its level and let others play leadership roles in their spheres. Through this collective effort and enlightened shared leadership, perhaps the community as a whole will eventually benefit. What could be more important? 148

Published in the ‘Opinion’ section of Malaysiakini, June 2001. Semparuthi Context: In early 2001, a riot in an urban squatter area where Malay and Indian Malaysians live led to the loss of six lives. Many social analysts saw this as a ‘racial riot’ with an economic dimension. While one can accept the fact that in a growing multicultural democracy, riots may happen for a number of reasons, the poor response of the government machinery to the immediate needs of riot victims is really a reflection of poor governance. The Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), an informal network community of responsible Malaysian citizens, held a press conference on Saturday to remind the government about the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident and the unsolved problems of its victims. It is all too obvious that the media picks up issues and sets the narrative of national attention. Today, other issues have hogged media space and time so much that the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident and the problems of the victims are slipping into oblivion. The attempt by GCC to present a \"100-Day Report Card\" is a pointed attempt at bringing Petaling Jaya Selatan back to the national attention. And with that, the issue of justice for (as referred to by Charles Santiago, one of the co-ordinators of GCC) the \"victims of a double tragedy\" – of a race-based attack and of official amnesia and neglect. 149

Rehabilitation Necessary for Petaling Jaya Selatan Victims society, and more so for a society that claims to be a warm, caring one. A caring society without an active policy of rehabilitation for its citizens who become victims of tragic events is really a contradiction in terms. It is certainly a form of inhumanity. And, in the heart of that inhumanity is injustice. Citizens, whoever they are, need to know that they have the support of their government in times when they face their worst difficulties as a result of social or natural calamities. There is no room here for the interference of either an affirmative action policy or ethnic politics. People need help and they should receive it. A careful examination of the victims of Petaling Jaya Selatan reveals the casual nature of official attention on casualties that threaten a decent, long-term livelihood. All the victims of the incident are poor Malaysians. Those who died in the incident have left behind dependents – wives, very young children, and elderly parents. Those who survived have lost proper use of their hands or fingers or have lost, because of their head injuries, proper control over their mobility. Take an example. The thumb is a major evolutionary development to give us power to hold and manipulate objects around us. One victim lost his thumb, making him unable to execute many simple tasks. Poor people hardly work in the advanced knowledge sectors. Their work involves heavy use of manual skills and requires them to be able-bodied. Poor Get Poorer As S. Nagarajan, another co-ordinator of GCC, explained, the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident has left a number of once healthy Malaysians physically maimed as a result of which they cannot continue earning a living as before or lead a normal life. They are now faced with a situation that we all talk about casually – the poor getting poorer. Of course, these people received some official attention. But a careful examination of this attention for the victims does not seem to reflect any indication that the official machinery is alive to the condition of the dependents of the dead or maimed victims. 150

Semparuthi Rehabilitation Necessary for Petaling Jaya Selatan Victims Justice for the victims still needs to be addressed. One, the perpetrators of the ghastly acts of violence must eventually be brought to task and justice must be seen to be done. Two, the housing problems of the poor victims must be actively resolved along with a careful, sensitive strategy of building cross-community relationships. But the immediate need for justice lies in another area – rehabilitation. Compassionate Governance Of the issues that were raised, rehabilitation seemed very critical. It is important to note that the concern was about a particular type of rehabilitation, i.e. one that concerns ‘victims’, particularly the poor, caught in tragic events not of their making, and over which they have little or no control, like the collapse of a public building or a race-based riot. People – particularly the poor – caught in such situations either die, leaving dependents with serious problems, or are maimed and require help to re-adjust their lives so that they can again lead a normal life. Rehabilitation involves the process of restoring an individual – here, the victim – to a useful and constructive place in society, especially through some form of financial help, educational or special job opportunity or vocational training or a combination of these. Having a proper, well-thought-out rehabilitation policy is the business of any democratically-elected government and is certainly an indication of good, sustainable and compassionate governance. Casual Nature The idea and practice of creative rehabilitation is critical for the survival of any 151

Rehabilitation Necessary for Petaling Jaya Selatan Victims Semparuthi It certainly does not reflect a serious concern for long-term and creative rehabilitation of the victims. Instead, it reflects an insensitive, procedural, allocative mechanism that treats victims as statistics. It reflects a one-time, piecemeal, mechanical approach to victims extracted out of their social context, and is blind to the negative social consequences of their physical condition. The GCC is trying its best to meet the immediate needs of the victims – payment of medical bills, an additional expenditure that has come to take away whatever little money they have, payment of house rent, sundry expenditure needs, etc. This it has been able to do by getting concerned individuals to help and also by attempting to build bridges between philanthropic institutions and the victims. But these are certainly limited in scope and extent. Real People Rehabilitation for victims of the Petaling Jaya Selatan incident must eventually be a creative government effort. It is high time that the government comes alive to the fact that among its citizens, there is a mother who has lost her son and finds it extremely difficult to lead a decent life without support, a widow with two children and a mother-in-law to look after and a young boy who has lost the opportunity and hard-earned funds to sit for an examination. These are real people with real problems created by a situation that they had no control over. In their faces, we see anxiety and questions. One question is written large: What am I going to do now? Is it not time for the government to move away from the blindness induced by cold statistics in order to listen to the woes of its citizens and consider rehabilitation more seriously? More sincerely? 152

Written in August 2001. Unpublished. Context: This was written and distributed as a handout for a closed-door meeting on Mother- Tongue Education organised by opposition party members and concerned individuals. Some of the ideas developed in the earlier essays are also reflected here. Introduction In the last couple of months, there has been a good deal of important comments made on the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community. The guiding thread in all these comments has been the social problems faced by the community, the causes of the problems and suggestions for corrective measures. One of the ‘dramatic’ problems that has taken a lot of space in the mainstream media and that has caught people’s attention is the menace of gangsterism in the community. Invariably, figures have been presented to show that gangsterism is disproportionately greater in this minority community in comparison to the other communities. Of course, in the reports, nothing or very little is shown about the immense socio-economic problems faced by the community. Another issue that has drawn people’s attention is the problem faced by urban poor Tamil-Indian Malaysian victims of the Kampung Medan incident. If one surveys the various comments on the status and problems of the Tamil- Indian Malaysian carefully, Tamil education and Tamil schools are generally perceived as part of the problem of the community and are not seen as capable of offering children of the community a pathway to a better future. In fact, an unwritten challenge is thrown at the community: Give ‘us’ a good reason why ‘we’ need to sustain Tamil schools or Tamil education. In addressing the problems of Tamil education and its schools, a number of issues unfold. The ‘Anti-Own Tradition Syndrome’: Being exposed to western culture as part of the modernisation process, members of the upwardly-mobile middle- and 153

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia What kind of competencies do we want in an educated multiethnic and multicultural Malaysia? Given that inequality – both at the individual and community levels – is still a serious reality in Malaysia, how do we, as a national society, protect the educational process from its (i.e. inequality) inimical impact? We really need answers to these questions to make sense of Tamil education.1 Answers to the above questions need some real serious research and thinking. In a way, any educational process needs to address the following question: Is the end ‘product’ of the educational process a ‘citizen’ or an ‘economic robot’? It is perhaps worthwhile to think of an educational process guided by the following three critical agenda: (a) the economic agenda; (b) the political agenda, (which should be concerned with ‘active citizenship’); and (c) the cultural agenda, which should concern itself with preserving and sustaining cultural “form(s) of life”. (a) Firstly, education must be able to prepare young people in terms of their cognitive sophistication, affective/emotional development and behavioural/ motor skills so that they are prepared to meet the economic needs of the economy. This is the economic agenda of education. However, any society needs to have the wisdom to stop the process of directly linking economics to education and/or making education subservient to economics. When that happens, the educational process becomes corrupted and no real learning and/ or production of knowledge take place. Education that is thoroughly commodified does not seek knowledge but uses knowledge to make profit. Today, knowledge is data and data can be bought and sold. (b) Secondly, education must be geared towards producing a generation of young people who are informed, sensitive and critically responsive to their social and natural surroundings. This is the ‘active citizenship’, or the political agenda of education. It removes the pure economic focus of education. It makes young people alive to the society around them, how it is governed and how they can contribute to improving its democratic and participatory governance. This involves not only knowledge about party political process but also non- party political processes since both these process contribute in some way to the democratic governance of a nation. Unfortunately, in Malaysia today, this emphasis is minimal and many things have come to affect it adversely. For instance, the Universities and University 154

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia upper-classes of the community usually do not want to get too close to their tradition, which includes learning their own language. This is more so when they perceive their own community as poor and backward. The Economic Benefit Criteria: Many do not want their children to go to Tamil schools because they perceive that Tamil education offers no future for their children in Malaysia. They also see Tamil schools as schools with limited resources and poorly managed. Economic and Political Powerlessness: The Tamil Malaysian community is unable to sustain the Tamil education stream through internal community resources or by adopting an influential, animating political strategy through which the national government can be influenced. ‘Myths’ About Tamil Education: People hold on to many unsubstantiated opinions and unsustainable assumptions about Tamil education, particularly when they compare it with the other language streams. Policy on Education and Multiculturalism: Our government does not have a clear policy on education, in general, and mother-tongue or multicultural education in a multiethnic post-colonial society, in particular. This paper will attempt to address some of these issues. More than answer queries, the emphasis of the paper will be to raise questions and issues. Notably, the paper will address the direct or indirect call for abandoning Tamil schools/ education. What Is Education For? What Are Its Goals? Why do we need to educate our children? What must be the objectives of the educational process? How do we govern education in a multiethnic, multicultural social environment within a post-colonial society? Should the educational process in a post-colonial, multicultural and multiethnic society invent a ‘national language’ at the expense of other languages/mother tongues? 1 Including education fine-tuned to the language and cultural needs of other (minority) communities. It is important for all of us to recognise that the \"trinity\" (the Malays, Chinese and Indians) in the Malaysian ethnic scene are themselves communities of highly-diverse sub-groupings. Tamils are merely one – historically, the largest – sub- grouping within the Indian community. In addition, in Malaysia, we have many cultural and ethnic hybrid communities. We also have a rich diversity of indigenous people. 155

Semparuthi The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia \"Get Rid of Tamil Schools!\" Many middle-class Tamil-Indian Malaysians hold the view that Tamil schools are practically useless. Students in Tamil schools do not benefit, either educationally or economically. And worse, Tamil schools have become a hotbed for vices and gangsterism, nurturing and sustaining them. So, why maintain an institution that does not do any good for the Tamil Malaysian community, generally embarrasses the Indian community and is not central to nation building? A simple solution to the problem is proposed: \"Get rid of Tamil schools!\" On the surface, this seems like a reasonable proposal. But is it? What is the basis of the ‘abandon-Tamil-schools’ argument? The proposal is based on the assumption that in comparison to Tamil education, putting Tamil Malaysians in the national-type schools – and perhaps even in Chinese-medium schools – will solve the educational and economic needs of the community and the community would eventually gain. The Tamils are asked to dump Tamil schools and give up Tamil education because critics of all kinds and colours perceive that the national-type schools are better equipped to achieve the economic agenda of modern education. Or, it is assumed that students going through the national-type schools seem to be able to perform well economically later on in life. Really, the critics of Tamil schools only have this to sustain their arguments. Because they feel that Tamil education gets us \"nowhere here\" (read: does not give young Tamils in Malaysia bargaining power in the labour market), Tamil schools should go. In other words, Tamil schools have failed in their economic agenda and therefore have no right to exist.2 One recent critic suggested that Tamil education is perhaps useful only in Tamil 156

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia Colleges Act has depoliticised the campus. Perhaps this is politically advantageous to the ruling party, whatever that party is, but certainly does not show any wisdom for the future of democratic governance of this society. Creative leadership formation patterns in all fields, which depend on ‘responsible’ freedom, will certainly be adversely affected. Leadership will degenerate into succession management within very narrow political limits at the expense of creative development in new and unseen ways or at the expense of creative re-direction. The demand to make students declare that they will not participate in (opposition) politics suggests a policy of drawing students away from one form of active politics. Certainly, a careless approach to education and citizenship! (c) Lastly, education needs to groom young people to actively sustain and live within a cultural \"form of life\" or multiple cultural forms of life if we are dealing with a multicultural, multiethnic society. This is the cultural agenda of education. In a vital sense, Malaysia is produced by the interactive exchanges of a number of interpenetrating cultural worlds. All of us as Malaysians live to varying degrees and exchanges with the ethnic, multiethnic, national and global worlds. Today, we are citizens in both the national and global sense. In fact, we are certainly a ‘product’ of all these, though to a large extent, we are greatly influenced by the first-level culture, the culture that plants in us the first seeds of being human and civilised. Our ‘mother culture’ and our ‘mother tongue’ help us in the very early stages of our social life. This is usually (though not necessarily) our ethnic culture. In Malaysia, we also become alive quite early in our lives to the other cultural worlds, since we interact with them. It must be the business of education to contribute to building a strong self- identity based on the ‘student’s own culture and language (mother tongue)’, while making him/her highly multiculturally competent since s/he lives in a multicultural world. An important aspect of this multicultural competence is the ability ‘to blend’ into the national culture and to articulate a Malaysian worldview and “worldfeel”. The nation-building push of education and language acquisition need to be drawn in as part of the cultural agenda of education, which must be larger in scope in a multicultural, multiethnic Malaysia. With this brief elaboration, let us consider Tamil Schools and Tamil Education. 157

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia Questions. And More Questions … Have the critics really explored why the Tamil schools are not doing as well as the national-type schools in relation to the economic agenda? Or, conversely, if the national-type schools are doing better, why are they doing better in comparison to Tamil schools? One of the things some people like to do in this context is compare Tamil education with Chinese education and ask what I think is an unreasonable question: Why can’t the Tamils/Indians organise their education like the Chinese? In fact, it is through such questions that the focus on the responsibility of the government in a multiethnic post-colonial society is lost. Or, to put it another way, the unintended underside of our educational policy becomes clear. The above comparison is also really insensitive to the distinctive trajectories of the histories of the Chinese and the Indian/Tamil people in Malaya (and later Malaysia). It is a comparison insensitive to the present socio-economic and marginalised status of the community. To continue with the questions, have we studied the career path of students in the national-type schools for purposes of comparison with those who are being educated in their mother tongue, in this case Tamil? How many students from poor Tamil/Indian Malaysian families remain in the national educational system till they reach secondary and tertiary levels of education or benefit from the system beyond the secondary level of education? What are the types of career paths available to young Tamil-Indian Malaysians? Does ethnicity influence career paths? Is the educational stream (Tamil stream or national stream) the primary reason that affects a young Tamil-Indian Malaysian’s career path and economic well-being within our ethnically-charged sociocultural environment? As a society, how can we make serious decisions of national importance – though sadly Tamil education is perceived as the internal problem of a community – without considering the issue comprehensively? Do we have 2 Of course, some even feel that they have failed in their cultural agenda, having become a breeding ground for problems, like gangsterism. 3 In fact, if this question is answered affirmatively, there will be nothing to criticise, and therefore no critics, of Tamil education or Tamil schools. To prove that this will be so, we need not look very far: just take a look at the outcome of Chinese education in this country. 158

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia Semparuthi Nadu, India, from where Tamils come from, but certainly not in Malaysia. Though seemingly plausible, in practical terms, this position is short sighted, culturally suicidal and politically naïve. The loss of culture begins with loss of language. And indirectly, it serves the assimilationist agenda – a minority community whose culture becomes unavailable soon begins to assimilate the dominant culture(s). Of course, this serves nation-building efforts, but really, is this the kind of nation we want to build? Sooner or later, we have to come to terms with nation-building through dialogue and consensus, and contrast it with nation-building through hegemonic domination. History has a way of bringing up these issues again and again for they must be resolved. We need answers to many critical questions before we can even start thinking or understanding the consequences of doing away with an institution. It is easy to do away with an institution but difficult to build one. In fact, I don’t think the critics have even thought about the sheer practical problems that will ensue if the Tamil schools are closed down. Education for many Tamil Malaysian children will become practically unavailable. And what will happen to all the teachers? This suggestion looks like another recipe for further marginalisation. There are more questions for which we must have answers before we can take the \"abandon-the- Tamil-School\" argument seriously. For instance, have we done enough longitudinal investigations to show whether or not the majority of Malaysians educated in Tamil schools are doing well, given the social, economic and political odds faced by Tamils and their institutions?3 Relate this longitudinal study to the good Tamil schools as against those that are poorly provided for. Perhaps we will start seeing where the problem really is. 159

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia the need for young Malaysians to be capable of smoothly moving from one cultural world to another without the hang-ups of a culturally-puritanical older generation? What critically important institutions have we really created and sustained that promote democratic multi-culturalism? Considering this aspect, we can think of the following continuum in Malaysia. On one extreme, we have distinctive ethnic group formations, and on the other, we have hybrid communities. In between, we can think of multiculturalism in terms of two imageries – the ‘federal highway model’ and the ‘football team model’. The former implies a highway, which everyone uses, following certain commonly applicable rules. The latter implies a single formation of individuals bound by rules of teamwork so that performance of a definite, common task is achieved to the best of everyone’s ability within the team formation. So, in the continuum moving from ethnic group formations, ‘federal highway’ model of multiculturalism, ‘football team’ model of multiculturalism to ‘hybrid communities’, we are still very much at the ethnic group formations level. Most of our critical institutions and policies are very much influenced by ethnicity-based thinking and practices. Our cultural policy is hardly clear or precise in its approach to mother tongues – certainly more than just Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, the many Chinese dialects or Tamil – or about paying attention to building multicultural competencies. Even in areas where the stated intention is to introduce, at the tertiary level, courses on civilisations, non-Islamic civilisations have not been adequately addressed. Go to the built environment of Cyberjaya/Putrajaya; there is no multiculturalism there, architecturally speaking. Given this situation, how will our children make sense of, and come to terms with, the multicultural worlds they live and interact in? The national educational system is an utter failure in terms of education’s cultural agenda.5 It is hardly the place to look for active and informed support of the cultural diversity of this country. In fact, besides sustaining a culturally- hegemonic trajectory, the national educational system mediates the activities of the all-pervading market, which promotes the most pervasive common cultural 4 I am not suggesting that there is an intrinsic link between race, ethnicity and language. Nor am I suggesting essentialism in ethnic cultural acquisition. Culture is never static or monolithic. It is creative, multi-vocal and grows largely by endogenous strivings. It is certainly based on social relationships. The child is located within a sociocultural womb, and an important aspect of that is the mother tongue. 160

Semparuthi The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia answers to the questions raised above to do away with Tamil education? All the theory or rhetoric of democracy will not work without some matured patience to begin with! The Cultural Agenda of Education Moving our focus to another critical area – the cultural agenda – we are again faced with insufficient attention or information to make democratic decisions. Have we done our homework to find out which stream encourages greater self- development and the formation of a stronger cultural identity? Have the critics considered the impact of education on children through the mother-tongue and non-mother-tongue medium?4 What is the status of ethnic/mother-tongue education in this country? Is mother-tongue education the responsibility of a particular ethnic community or the national government? What is the Malaysian government doing for the education of the Tamil minority – and other minorities – in their mother tongue? A critic of Tamil education recently suggested that the Tamil language be taught in a casual, and not institutionalised, way. There is great danger in this. This is a sure recipe for erosion of mother-tongue usage in the long run. Language teaching needs to be institutionalised, transmitted and used inter-generationally. There must be social avenues – national and community-based – to keep it functioning as a living language, not just left to the interest of this or that individual or this or that parent. To preserve a culture for ornamental reasons is to insult it. The suggestions of the critic are a sure pathway to the ‘extinction’ of a language (at least from the Malaysian environment). What is our commitment to a culturally-diverse and active national community? What is our commitment as a society and nation to multi-culturalism (or inter- culturalism)? Have we made it part of our educational system to provide young Malaysians multicultural competencies so that they can negotiate and navigate in multicultural, multi-ethnic and multireligious worlds? Have we ever considered 161

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia schoolteachers are ethnically neutral and imbued with multiracial/multiethnic wisdom. There have been many cases of cultural and ethnic insensitivity and abuse in Malaysian schools. Has anyone considered what the impact of this would have been on the victimised students’ psychological development and performance? Many cases reported in the mainstream newspapers involved Tamil-Indian Malaysian children in the national educational system. While such events have been reported in the daily newspapers, I have not seen much coverage on how teachers have been taken to task or made accountable for their ethnic insensitivity. Such a situation certainly affects the performance and morale of Tamil/Indian children, as it must children of any other ethnic community. As suggested elsewhere, Tamil language taught in a casual, ad-hoc manner is a sure recipe for loss of mother-tongue in the long run. There is a need for proper institutionalisation of the language for inter-generational continuity. There is an urgent need for a sustainable, active policy for mother-tongue language teaching. Conclusion In Malaysia, ethnically-compartmentalised thinking and action in relation to national issues, systematic long-term official neglect of ethnic cultural institutions, suggestions of legal difficulties preventing corrective action to improve or upgrade Tamil schools, poor community leadership, the apathy of upwardly-mobile Tamils about their culture and/or Tamil education, and an absence of timely political intervention have the direct potential of ‘killing’ Tamil schools and education eventually. We really don't need critics. But there are hardly any good reasons for dumping Tamil schools or mother-tongue education. In fact, we will be going against an important social current of the present millennium – the active protection and promotion of enlightened ethnic cultural diversity. 7 No education in a particular language is, by itself, intrinsically unproductive. 5 Though I will not address the issue here, it is also a failure as far as the political agenda is concerned. Our educational system is not mature enough to address the issue of creating an active and creative citizenry. It is assumed that such citizens will essentially be anti- establishment. And as a result for now, any oppositional practice – institutionalised in the form of political parties, non-governmental organisations or media organisations – in Malaysia is demonised, unfortunately. 162

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia denominator, a national consumerist cultural outlook based of the ethos of ‘having’. A subterranean theme of the national educational system is to create more of the same, to standardise our communal life. While to a great extent, formal education encourages a consumerist outlook, the informal one encourages the Americanisation of the Malaysian public. Tamil Education and Governance Issues There is a need to evaluate the extensive research available relating mother- tongue education to intellectual and emotional development, and consequently, the self-development of a child. Yes, there are practical issues and governance problems concerning the development of mother-tongue education, the goals of multicultural education and of nation building. However, burying our head in the sand like an ostrich will certainly not be helpful in resolving them! Push them aside and they will spring back at a future time, as history teaches us. Is it really difficult for a society and its government – if only it had the political will – to make the Tamil education stream sufficiently productive by upgrading the schools and their facilities, and improving the standard of their teachers and performance? In attacking Tamil schools and Tamil education, critics are careful to overlook or avoid an in-depth reflection on the responsibility of a government in educating its citizens in a multiethnic society or on the cultural goal of education. This is hardly considered a critical issue. There seems to be little acknowledgement of the direct consequence of this on the economic agenda of education. In fact, there are some who tell us that we should stop making demands on the government for everything. But education is not just anything. It is about creating the ‘soul’ of a community and the nation. It must certainly be the government’s business. Perhaps, it is not a matter that is of interest to ‘this government’. There are in fact more areas in which we do not have sufficient information to ensure the proper governance of education in a multiethnic, multicultural society. For instance, how do our teachers deal with ethnicity in a multiethnic classroom?6 It would be naïve to believe that all our primary and secondary 6 Equally, there must be an effort to introduce multicultural values that are part of the curriculum of language-stream schools. 163

The Triple Agenda of Education and Tamil Education in Malaysia What we need for our common Nor is it intrinsically inimical to nation future is a serious effort to allow building. It all depends on the vision of a society, its educational practices and its multiculturalism to guide our political will, maturity and imagination. national and educational policies... what we need for our Ours is still highly influenced by ethnic future is a sort of ‘multicultural segmentation. There is a politically-short- sighted reason for maintaining this. What vision school’ concept which we need for our common future is a serious should be sustained by an effort to allow multiculturalism to guide educational process that integrates the three agenda of education. Such a process will create (a) an our national and educational policies. economically-productive labour Without getting into a serious critique of force; (b) citizens who will talk the such ideas as ‘smart schools’ or ‘vision language of inclusivity, social schools’ here, what we need for our future is a sort of ‘multicultural vision school’ criticism, dialogue and participatory democracy; and (c) culturally active human beings concept which should be sustained by an who will be sensitive to the educational process that integrates the creativity and multi-vocality three agenda of education. Such a process (multiple voices) of their own will create (a) an economically-productive labour force; (b) citizens who will talk the cultures and the diversity they are a part of. language of inclusivity, social criticism, dialogue and participatory democracy; and (c) culturally active human beings who will be sensitive to the creativity and multi-vocality (multiple voices) of their own cultures and the diversity they are a part of. Within such an environment, Tamil education, in the first instance, and Tamil schools, in the second, will certainly benefit, as they will become part of an inclusive national society and national conscience. 7 Of the world’s 6,800 tongues, linguists predict that 50 to 90 percent could become extinct by the end of this century. One reason is that half of these languages are spoken by fewer than 2,500 people each, according to the Worldwatch Institute, a private organisation that monitors global trends. Languages need at least 100,000 speakers to survive, says UNESCO. War and genocide, fatal natural disasters, the adoption of more dominant languages, such as Chinese and Spanish, and government bans on language also contribute to their demise. As a society, do we want to be part of this \"linguicide\"? Asiaweek, 29 June–5 July 2001. See http://www.asianweek.com/2001_06_29/news3_languageextinction.html 164

Written in November 2001. Context: This article on the Indian Malaysian Community was sent to A. Letchumanan, who subsequently wrote a news story, entitled \"Nagging Pains of Local Indians\", which appeared in The Star, 27 Nov. 2001, and which is reproduced below (this article). The ‘Indian Problem’ is a nagging one that will not go away no matter what one does, if our response is merely symptomatic. Of course, here it is necessary to keep in mind that most of the time, when we talk about Indian problems, it is usually and largely with reference to Tamil-Indian Malaysians. How do we begin to try to understand the problems of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community? I think we need to look at two levels – one, at the community, and the other, the representation of the community, particularly in the mainstream media. In addressing the problems of the community, people have come up with many explanations. The problems in the community are seen as being caused by internal, endogenous, factors. The community has created its own problems, articulating some sort of a death wish. The opposite view is that the problem of the community is created by external, i.e. exogenous factors; for instance, government policies. Then, there is a group that tends to provide a mono-causal explanation, suggesting that the culture of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian people is the cause of their problems. They like to point their finger at Tamil schools or Indian (Tamil) cinema. They even point an accusatory finger at the community's family system. At the other end of the spectrum, the marginal socio-economic status of the community is seen as the major cause of its social problems. In looking for a ‘proper’ and sympathetic understanding of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian problem, my plea is for a careful historical analysis of exogenous factors like the government’s development and social policies and how these affected the community in its development. This analysis must be combined 165

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! on a sustained, long-term basis builds a particular image of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community as a ‘problem community’ (which is quite different from ‘a community with problems’). This re-casting of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community into a ‘problem community’ presents serious situations at different social sites in the everyday life experience of the individual members of the community. The targeting of this community is subtle, which brings me to the second aspect. Many informed and sensitive Malaysians know that MIC largely represents the Tamil-Indian Malaysian voice and has not been able to bring into its fold the diverse communities of Indians. This unresolved problem within the community is ‘exploited’ in ways that add to the community’s problems. In the programming of Indian movies in the electronic media, in the use of words such as ‘Diwali’ (not Deepavali) or ‘rangoli’ (not ‘kolum’)*, and in the characters who appear in promotional materials, the Malaysian media is helping to deepen the problem within the community by constructing and crystallising the ‘North Indian- South Indian’ divide, I think, quite carelessly. Of course, as observed above, the South Indians we are dealing with here are the majority Tamil-Indian Malaysians, not the Sri Lankan Tamils or the non- Tamils, who, understandably, have their own grievances. The Malaysian media, of course, has never shown such enlightened concern for internal groupings in the case of other ethnic communities, say for instance the Malay Malaysians. This is rather revealing about the perceptions and (unwritten) editorial policies of the Malaysian mass media towards the Indian Malaysian community in general and towards the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community in particular. Here, it is instructive to view the third aspect with reference to the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community, and that is the social consequences of reporting crime statistics in Malaysia with reference to ethnic groups. Annually, we hear about how high crime figures are for the Indians (presumably Tamil-Indian Malaysians) – too many groups for a small population (as though there is some allowable standard!). In all this, there is hardly a serious discussion about the reasons why there is such a high number of gangs, for instance, among the Indian Malaysians. Without a careful background analysis of the situations that give rise to gangsterism, some government institutions and the mainstream media are only contributing to creating the image of a ‘problem community’. How can the problem be ever resolved? And, since we fail to examine properly the problem, the re-casting of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community as a problem 166

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! with an examination of internal factors but with a clear emphasis and focus on socio-economic marginalisation, which is at the root of a large number of problems, including the much-publicised issue of gangsterism. My own feeling is that without such a comprehensive examination, it would be difficult to make sense of the community’s problems. And consequently, the problems of the community will never be seriously addressed. And much less, resolved. The lowly status and marginalisation of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community today is a consequence of a critical disjunction. On the one side is the increasingly market-directed growth trajectory of a post-colonial nation-state trying to define its identity in a particular way, highly influenced by exclusive religious and ethnic affiliations. On the other, is a minority community trying to make sense of its moorings in that trajectory, while faced with immense internal problems, such as lack of socio-economic resources - low political bargaining power as a result - and the absence of visionary leadership that did not act with foresight at crucial junctures of its existence in this nation. In the final analysis, at one important level, the problem of the Tamil-Indian Malaysian minority community, I suppose, cannot be firmly resolved unless we uphold the values of compassion and justice, transform our politics beyond an ethnic basis and stop thinking in exclusive ethnic terms about issues and situations that are essentially national in scope. While the large canvass painted above does not draw on many ground-level realities, I would like to point to three important aspects, all related to the mainstream media. The first has to do with the role of the media in representing the community. In examining this, one cannot but wonder at what the criteria are for putting up something as headlines on the front page. That unduly adds a symbolic load to what is printed there. If what appears on the front page covers ethnic news relating to a particular community, the symbolic load is even greater, given our ethnically-charged environment. In most cases, when some problems related to a rich community are printed on the front page, what is reported is seen as an aberration from the norm. But when a problem is reported involving the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community, it is usually symbolically read as a ‘rule’. That kind of representation * Unlike Diwali and Deepavali which refer to the same festival, Rangoli and Kolum are different, in that one is seen as colourful and the other is not. While these terms show cultural dynamism, their contextual usage can have political implications. 167

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! community takes over, and contributes to the creation of a punitive strategy rather than a preventive one to deal with gangsterism. Improving Tamil schools and education, for instance, as a national objective could begin one of the processes of long-term resolution of the problems of the community, including the problem of gangsterism. Among the serious problems facing the community is that the trend of reporting on it seems to be one-dimensional, usually without background support or careful checking of facts, which sometimes reflects the level of professionalism in the media, but at other times, suggests the existence of prejudice.* Newspapers are also not known to consciously present coverage on the front page that counters negative image formation. Bad news sells, good news bores. In the process, the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community is caught in a negative “image trap”. There is no clear-cut editorial policy on ethnic news reporting or the ‘social impact assessment’ of such reporting. Sincere reporting relating to ethnic groups, providing the happenings in the nation to its citizens needs to be balanced with a clear focus and strategy of disallowing negative image formation, of profiling and communalising Malaysians into clear racial/ethnic categories or groupings. But can a politically and economically-marginalised community swing that? Will they be taken seriously? The national attitude seems to be “never mind the Indians.” A. Letchumanan, The Star, 27 November 2001. Context: In spite of serious efforts by Indian politicians and the community, the spate of violent crimes involving Indian youths seems to be continuing. What are the causes? Is the media contributing to the problem by exaggerating crime stories? Reports from talks with academics and social activists. ON DEEPAVALI day, former national walker Mahadevan Kuttappan was slashed to death by an Indian gang at Sri Sentosa flats in Petaling Jaya. * Incidently, a number of political cartoons in the mass media and jokes are on certain Indian Malaysian politicians. I wonder why this is not tried on other national leaders with the same ease and freedom! 168

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! In Klang, a Deepavali reunion of five former colleagues at a public park ended in a bloody tragedy when they were set upon by a group of parang-wielding assailants. These attacks come in the wake of other brutal acts such as the shocking drowning of a toddler, who was thrown into a river, in Kampung Medan and the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kuala Lumpur, the harassment of her family and the brutal killing of her father. These incidents are worrying the Indian community and its leaders. According to police statistics, the number of Indians involved in criminal activities has been rising in the past few years. From 69 cases in 1996, the number rose to 179 in 1999 and 111 in the January to August 2000 period. Figures from August last year have not been tabulated but based on news reports, the upward trend is not expected to change. Police records show there are 38 Indian crime gangs in Peninsular Malaysia with a membership of around 1,500. About 63 percent of detainees under the Emergency Ordinance and 14 percent of detained juveniles are Indians – members of a minority community. It is not that Indian political and community leaders are not aware of the statistics. The MIC has, in fact, taken steps to resolve problems faced by Indian youths by setting up the social arm called Yayasan Strategik Sosial. Independent Indian-based non-governmental organisations have been working with plantation and squatter communities. Why then do these unpleasant events continue to afflict the Indian community? Social workers and academics believe the Government must do more to address the root causes of alienation faced by Indians. Engineer and social activist K. Arumugam, who has carried out many development programmes through the Tamil Youth Bell Club, the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation and the Child Information, Learning and Development Centre, said the Indian community was in crisis. “Feeling marginalised and generally trapped in poverty, the Indians are devoid of a caring and sharing Government. “Feeling ostracised in all sectors – schools, institutions, enforcement agencies, government and corporate – they tend to seek a defence mechanism to overcome their woes and challenges,” he said, adding that organising themselves into groups or gangs provided Indian youths a sense of belonging. 169

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! system. However, he said the low status and marginalisation of the Indian community today was a consequence of vast problems faced during the market-directed growth of a post-colonial state trying to define its identity in a particular way. “During that period, the Indian community was trying to make sense of its moorings while faced with immense internal problems such as lack of socio- economic resources, low political bargaining abilities as a result, and absence of visionary leadership at critical times of its life in this nation,” said Dr. Nadarajah. He said the problem could not be resolved firmly unless the values of compassion and justice were upheld. He believed this could happen only when the nation’s politics was transformed beyond race and when people stopped thinking in ethnic terms on issues and situations that were essentially national. Dr. Nadarajah also took issue with the coverage of Indian issues in the media. He said the media's role in representing the community, especially putting up issues on the front page, added a symbolic load. “If what appears on the front page covers ethnic news relating to a particular community, the symbolic load is great, given our ethnically-charged environment. When problems are printed on the front page in connection with a rich community, what is reported is seen as an exception to the rule. “But when a problem is reported involving the Indian community, it is usually read symbolically as a rule. That kind of representation on a sustained basis builds the image of the Indian community as a problem community, which is different from a community with problems,” he added. Dr. Nadarajah said this recasting of the community as a problem community presented serious problems in the everyday life of individual members. He said that many informed and sensitive Malaysians knew the MIC had not been able to bring into its fold the whole diverse community of Indians. \"This unresolved problem is exploited in ways that add to the community's problems. In the programming of Indian movies in the electronic media, the use of words, such as Diwali instead of Deepavali, and rangoli instead of kolum, and characters 170

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! Semparuthi Arumugam said that some of the groups had developed links with forces of power and money which appear to be promoting and protecting them. “They have become protectors, mediators, collectors and judges and mete out punishment for a fee paid either in lump sum or monthly taxes,” he said, adding that even students in secondary schools were being influenced. Although the MIC and other Indian-based organisations had taken steps to resolve the gangster problem, Arumugam said the community saw little scope for a permanent remedy. “These are no permanent solutions. It must be accepted that such steps do not deal with underlying causes but only postpone the inevitable,” he said, adding that the problem was entrenched and interwoven with poverty. He said that gangsterism was likely to thrive when those with power and money exploit the situation. “Political parties and NGOs have the desire to resolve the problem but they do not have the means. The Government has to seriously look at socio-economic inequalities beyond race.” “It is essential that long-term programmes be developed and implemented through the five-year plans over the next 20 years with intense monitoring of developments,” Arumugam said. Sociologist Dr. M. Nadarajah, who lectures at Stamford College, said the Indian Malaysian problem was a nagging one that would not go away if only the symptoms were dealt with. He said there had been many explanations of the root causes of problems faced by Indian Malaysians, especially Tamils. Some blamed external factors like government policies while others pointed a finger at internal issues such as culture, Tamil schools, movies and family 171

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! He said it was the same question thrown at media in the United States and Britain accused of only reporting crimes involving blacks or coloured people. Economist Charles Santiago said that Tamil films were not the main factor responsible for the increase in criminal activities among Indians as claimed by certain quarters. \"Tamil films like Talapathi show the people taking the law into their own hands after a breakdown in police support for the people,\" he said. He said that racial clashes in Kampung Medan and the indiscriminate breaking down of temples showed disrespect on the part of certain government apparatus. \"These temples have been there 30 to 40 years and suddenly one wakes up and decides they have to go. There has to be consultation between the relevant people, including temple committees, the MIC and others,\" Santiago said. Prof. Marimuthu said that rapid urbanisation was putting pressure on Indians who previously lived in close-knit family environments in rubber estates. He said that many Indians were forced to migrate to towns after the plantations they worked in were bought for development projects, adding that since they lacked education and skills, they ended up in slum areas. \"These slum areas lack infrastructure. There is no value system and everyone becomes impersonal and a sense of community is lacking. Some children drop out of school, having to fend for families with inadequate incomes, and this provides a conducive climate for criminals to recruit young members,\" he said. Prof. Marimuthu said that only education could save the children and there was a need to start kindergartens and remedial and enrichment programmes to help youths. “The quality of living has to be improved, and infrastructure upgraded, including better housing, sanitation, roads, drainage, piped water and electricity,” he added. Prof. Marimuthu said, after the Kampung Medan incident, the Government had realised the magnitude of the problem. He said there was now a need for government intervention with assistance from NGOs and voluntary organisations. 172

The Indian (Malaysian) Problem. Again! who appear in promotional material, the Malaysian media helps deepen the problem by constructing and crystallising the North Indian-South Indian divide, quite carelessly. “Of course, as observed, the south Indians we are dealing with are of the majority Tamil community, not Sri Lankan Tamils or non-Tamils who understandably have their own grievances,” he said. Dr. Nadarajah said the Malaysian media had never shown enlightened concern for ethnic communities and this revealed the perceptions and (unwritten) editorial policies of media owners towards the Indian community. He said that media reports of high crime statistics involving Indians were out annually but there was hardly any serious discussion on the reasons why there were such a high number of gangs. \"Without careful analysis of the situations that give rise to gangsterism, some institutions of the Government and the mainstream media are contributing to the creation of the 'problem community' image. How can the problem be ever resolved?\" he asked. Dr. Nadarajah said without proper examination, the recasting of Indians as a problem community contributed to the creation of a punitive strategy rather than a preventive one to deal with gangsterism. \"Improving Tamil schools and education, for instance, as a national objective can begin the process of long-term resolution of the problems, including that of gangsterism,\" he said. Dr. Nadarajah said that media reports tended to be one- dimensional and without background support or careful checking of facts – sometimes reflecting the lack of professionalism of the media and at other times reflecting prejudice. \"Sincere reporting related to ethnic groups, informing citizens of happenings in the nation, need to be balanced with the clear focus and strategy of disallowing negative image formation and communalising Malaysians,\" he said, adding that a politically and economically marginalised community was always at a disadvantage. MIC education bureau chairman Prof. Datuk T. Marimuthu, however, felt the media should not be blamed for highlighting the problems of the Indian community. 173

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Published in Malaysiakini and Vettipechu, April 2002. Context: On 24 March 2002, an event in the most powerful nation on this little planet was flashed across the world for its drama, colour and entertainment, for global consumption. Two fine Afro-American actors -Denzel Washington and Halle Berry - walked away with the greatest gift their acting career could offer them. What was so special about the event this year? Well, suddenly, after 74 years, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences woke up to the fact that its recognition and evaluation of acting ability had been deeply ‘coloured’. All this while, good actors who deserved the Academy Award of Merit, the Oscar, were taken, as a matter of practice, to be necessarily whites. So, what are the lessons for us from this event? Unconscious Expression of Racism The practice of racism is not necessarily always a conscious activity. Having become a part of the Norm, the choice of white actors and the act to honour them with the Oscar looked and felt ‘normal’. The practice of racism had become an act outside the boundaries of a conscious mind embedded in America’s complex social history. It is rather a part of a complex configuration of ‘unconscious’ institutionalised practices. That is what institutions are supposed to do: remove the cognitive load, along with our critical faculty, from social practices through repetition and patterning. The ‘normal’ is therefore the routine, largely submerged deep enough to remain out of the reach of critical attention. Thus, the awarding of the Oscar to predominantly white professionals was never taken to be a racist practice or, a racially-biased one. Yet somehow, 175

The Oscar and ‘Segregation’ in Malaysian Schools tools, or opportunities, to constantly interpret and recognise realities that sometimes are not articulated, are unrecognised and/or are not attended to. Thus, today, black lawyers are suing companies implicated in slavery and are hoping for a national apology for the wrongs done to the black community during the time of slavery, which was certainly a major contributor to the development of corporate America. So was the Oscar event. The inability to recognise, or the ‘misrecognition’ of a reality and the inability to objectify it, is certainly a serious social pathological condition. ‘Non-recognition or misrecognition’ can be genuine or motivated (i.e. part of an agenda) but the problem (of racism) remains unresolved. Racial Segregation in Malaysian Schools What has all this got to do with us? With the announcement of the findings of the investigation into ‘racial segregation’ in Malaysian schools recently, an issue that came into the public forum sometime at the end of last year [2001],* suddenly all kinds of critics directed their unreasonable attacks on the secretary- general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), Siva Subramaniam. Whatever his position is today, Subramaniam had made a revelation then of the widespread nature of ‘racial segregation’ in Malaysian schools, particularly involving the Indian Malaysian community. Without giving him access to the report of the investigation, it was decided that Subramaniam had misunderstood/misrecognised the whole thing and therefore, needed to tender a public apology. The belief that \"there is no racism or racial discrimination or that no racially-biased decisions (disadvantaging certain communities) are made in this country\" was being re-asserted again by officialdom. But in Malaysia, this is a highly-contested stand. The discussion on ‘segregation’ in Malaysian schools, or as a commentator from Penang recently suggested, ‘separation’, that is going on in our society relates to our serious inability to come to terms with racism or racially-informed or -directed decision making, in the public and/or private spheres. In a society where racial/ethnic inequality is all too obvious, where an indefinite racially- based affirmative action policy is sustained, where residential patterning, occupation and employment recruitment strategies, resource allocation, ‘friendship formations’ and social affiliations are racially/ethnically motivated, the official stance is that there are no problems between the races in Malaysia. Not in our corporate or private sector. Not in our educational institutions. 176

The Oscar and ‘Segregation’ in Malaysian Schools everyone knew that something was not right and that race and ethnicity were implicated in the awarding of the Oscar. Though not necessarily conscious, entertainment and professional recognition were fleshed out most dramatically and publicly through (hidden) racial discrimination. Racism as Unintended Consequence In relation to the above observation, there is another relevant point: the outcomes or consequences of an intended action are not always clear. The awarding of the Oscar had an intended component – recognition of and an award for acting competency/superior performance (in addition, of course, to other competencies related to cinema and filmmaking). This highly-professional activity followed stringent norms, all part of intentional activities. However, there were unintended consequences of the ‘award ritual’ – the definite reproduction of unequal race relations and sustaining of racism in one of the most popular and colourful institutions in American society, even as it was being re-produced in other institutional settings. The professionalism of the Academy’s activities at the same time fleshed out racism, or racially-biased decisions. Does that make the Academy less racist in its actual practice? Misrecognition of Racism The ‘recognition’ of a reality, or an aspect of it, and then endowing it with institutional ‘objectivity’ (by associating it with a meaningful word, i.e. by naming it, locating its existential sites, developing its institutional support mechanisms, sustaining inter-generational behavioural characteristics, etc) are critical in addressing it collectively. Such recognition is also important for organising its recovery if and when it becomes part of the unconscious and is lost to individual/collective memory. Consider this: Whatever criticism we may have of the American administration or however intensely we disagree with its present unreasonable ‘adolescent rampage’ threatening to take on the world by defining a nation here and a nation there as ‘rogue’ or as part of an “axis of evil”, it has worked out a number of comprehensive laws and institutions on race relations for its own citizens. These responses provide the * See http://www.cikgu.net.my/english/news.php3?page=news20020119a. March 2004. Also see http://www.malaysia.net/dap/lks1378.htm. March 2004. 177

The Oscar and ‘Segregation’ in Malaysian Schools Not in our public and social security sector. Not in the government sector. We are so bent on saying \"Everything is fine\". While some ethnically influenced decision-making is understandable, there are many measures that directly or indirectly hurt us individually or collectively, drawing our citizenship status in a multiethnic post-colonial society into question. As a nation, we certainly suffer from collective social blindness. Institutional Blindness This social blindness is, of course, institutionally sustained. Even an institution such as the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), while recognising all kinds of discrimination in this country, does not recognise racism or decisions made on the basis of race/ethnicity that infringe human rights. For whatever reason, it is still not ready to engage with racism in Malaysia. In addition, given the way mainstream reporting is done in this country, it seems to suggest that even editors like to think that some Malaysians are bent on blowing out of proportion what is really a non-issue and therefore unimportant. They certainly help contribute to the collective farce we like to sustain. What kind of culture and nation are we building? As a citizen, I really would like to believe that my country is mature enough to be above racism or racial discrimination or racially-biased decision-making. But no matter how many times that is repeated, it is simply not true. Besides being a conscious one, it is also certainly a part of our unconscious routine activities or the unintended consequences of some practical response. In whatever way it may be fleshed out, we need to come to terms with that reality. And address it, consciously and critically. And through such critical engagement, build a tradition and culture that is mature enough to be above racism. 178

PHOtO Essay Cahayasuara 179

Cultural Spectacle? Annual Religious Ritual? Nat Nat 180