In the comment (screenshot below), ‘ss’ seems to have some trouble believing that a poor Indian – “the Hindraf constituency” whom the movement speaks for – cannot afford paying RM1.20/RM1.50 for a copy* of The Star daily.
‘ss’ – who I profile to be a Lim Guan Eng admirer – does not come across to me as someone being able to imagine how poverty-stricken families live.
I’m going to be personal here but comments like ss’s memang menyakitkan hati.
(*Not that I can see any reason why an Indian poor would want to, and even if they do buy papers it would more likely be a Tamil one.)
.
Then there was this letter to the FMT editor yesterday.
Commenting on the hunger viratham by Hindraf chairman Waytha Moorthy, the letter writer Mathias Gomes opined:
“The almost 30,000 crowd on Nov 25, 2007 at the KLCC area converged because of only one factor, the motivation of 1 million pounds for each Indian in Malaysia, Waytha promised to sue the British Government for about 4 Trillion pounds …”
I have spoken to those who attended the Hindraf rally and I also sat in several times on the court hearings of M. Murugan who was charged with illegal assembly for his participation on 25 Nov 2007.
None of them ever said or hinted or gave me any impression at all that they had turned out on the streets that day due to “only one factor, the motivation of 1 million pounds for each Indian in Malaysia” as Mathias Gomes alleges.
The pro-Pakatan people hail those who rallied with Bersih and Himpunan Hijau as heroes. Well pro-DAP because for the PAS masses, street demos are not out of the ordinary.
But the Indians who got the brunt of the teargas and water cannons – Bersih 3.0 and Himpunan Hijau and the more recent ones were ‘festive’ walks in the park comparatively – are despised as greedy and gullible people who joined the protest solely in anticipation of pocketing one million pounds sterling.
Do let’s compare the Indian working class rally and the Chinese “environmental” rally.
After telling all the anti-Lynas supporters that the Gebeng plant would turn Malaysians into mutants, there was a sudden Ubah on 12 March 2013.
Malaysiakini carried a headline on the change, saying ‘Wong Tak welcomes Lynas, if it uses “front door”.’
On the following day (March 13), a “big crowd” gave Wong Tack a “warm welcome” at a DAP ceramah in Bentong where Lim Guan Eng personally introduced him as the party candidate for the Parliamentary area.
The big DAP crowd who gave the Himpunan Hijau chairman a warm welcome was collectively struck with amnesia. They forgot that just a short while ago they were screaming how the lives of little children needed to be saved from the Lynas killer rays.
Wong Tack was reported as telling the big crowd on Tuesday: “Let us stand up together. If we can win Bentong, we will win nationwide. Let us stand in Bentong and shake the country.” — see screenshot below
Never mind that a mere day earlier on Monday, he had made a 180-degree turn. But then again, green is the colour of the chameleon.
So how were the comments from Malaysiakini readers responding to the story ‘Big crowd gives Wong Tack warm welcome‘?
Some detractors — whenever it comes to postings critical of Pakatan, they show up to deflect, like the commenter who was most certain that Teo Nie Ching’s silver/grey dresses were one and the same and lectured us on “jangan buruk sangka” — have argued that the “majority” of Malaysiakini commenters are cybertroopers.
Therefore I’ve screenshot one comment from someone who is a fairly well-known pro-Pakatan blogger who’s part of the Haris Ibrahim crowd.
The comment you read below is legit (identity of the commenter known):
“If there were enough time, I would change my residency to Bentong to vote… every Bentong voter must step up and support this man’s entrance to parliament…”
They support Wong Tack’s candidacy as long as he’s standing under the Rocket symbol and make all kinds of excuses for him.
To digress a little, here’s a paragraph taken from a science article in the University of California Berkeley website about chameleons and salamanders:
“Chameleons are known for firing their tongues at insects to snatch them off a leaf, and now scientists have discovered a salamander whose tongue goes ballistic too.”
Most interesting about the “salamander whose tongue goes ballistic”. By the way, the salamander’s tongue is extended so far out of its mouth that it must be shot out like an assassin’s bullet.
Quite alike to some of the Himpunan Hijau cyberbullies and their ultra Chinamen bloggers who go berserk here and there after they spin too much.
Still on the topic of Hindraf and Haris, the screenshot above is the ABU initiator’s posting just up, where he asks whether the minority rights movement is “compromised” after their recent meeting with the Prime Minister.
Haris’s headline casts very pejorative imputations.
Nonetheless I’m glad that, if anything, at least it gives me the opportunity and the honour to put on record that I hold N. Ganesan the Hindraf adviser in the highest regard as well as have the utmost respect for his ethics and integrity.
Haris Ibrahim also made another remark about “the least known of Waythmoorthy’s brothers, known in civil society circles as Segaran”. He blogged that Segaran is “seen by many of us as Hindraf’s own Special Branch”.
I’m not sure what you make of the description that Segaran is seen by Haris & Co. as “Hindraf’s own Special Branch”.
However I can tell you that Segaran is my friend and I have a good opinion of him. Like his brothers, he is a committed activist to the cause of the Indian poor.
Helen Ang 
Me, a simpleton man, if I’m an indian wo couldnt afford some piece of newspapers, I’d wake early to go the nearest 7 Elevens to grab a few free copies of the SUN dailies. They are also inclined toward the opposition what. That will do ain’t it.? Pure bullshit no money buy news paper but can buy Taisong.!
Pls do not belittle other people’s choice or prerogative, everyone is not the same and the world would be a very bleak place if everyone is exactly as you mr simpleton my ass. You are not a simple person, you demand others to follow your so-called virtues.
Spewing racial slurs seems to be your inkling, hasty generalization as your only sad excuse of an attempt to understand your neighbours. We do not need who you think you are.
Dear Helen,
what you’ve commented is true.
as for me, my late mom used to say that should you meet a snake and an indian at the same time, which will you kill first? my mom straight away gave her answer…kill the indian!
that were many years ago… where people in Malaysia used to have an impression radically according to the races as follows:
1. Kalau tak malas….itu bukan Melayu
2. Kalau tak tipu….itu bukan Cina
3. Kalau tak mabuk….itu bukan India
Today, the people of Malaysia already ‘campur’ so well that the 3 major races adopts each other similarity and therefore, my late mom’s words should be consider historical.
now back to your post…
‘ss’ seems to have some trouble believing that a poor Indian – “the Hindraf constituency” whom the movement speaks for – cannot afford paying RM1.20/RM1.50 for a copy* of The Star daily.
i’m sure ss closed his eyes on the reality or he may mistaken the Indian middle-class and above compared to the group Hindraf is fighting for.
i came to know a few yet many ex-estates family who have to fight for their life. they have to rent houses, find another job to make ends meet.
some lucky guy will find all the troubles to get a driving license, a GDL just to be able to drive a 1 tonne lorry and do landscaping, become a mover and carry-out maintenance work in housing estates. they have challenges from indonesians, myanmar, vietnames, bangladeshis apart from having negatives impressions from even the locals.
worst still there are a few without mykad eventhough they were born here, go to school here and live their life here.
and this are the people who can’t afford to pay RM1.20 for the Star news…..unfortunately ‘ss’ never met any.
Hopefully their plight really gets Najib’s attention through Hindraf.
SS is an abbreviation for Schutzstaffel.
Dear Helen.
I support what you are doing on behalf of poor Indians. If you says the Hindraf chairman Waytha Moorthy is sincere and the poor Indians too, trusted him, so be it. I use to have doubt on Hindraf’s motives, but now, since you have been championing them, there will be no objection anymore on my part.
Thank you.
Helen, this PAKATAN people, especially DAP ni hanya untuk-untuk orang yang berduit. Perjuangan mereka hanya untuk mereka sahaja, bukan untuk rakyat. Syok sendiri berkumpul fighting for this and that, tapi abuk pun tak ada. Mereka cakap kebebasan bersuara untuk semua, tapi mereka tidak pula mengamalkannya. This people is actually a bunch of self righteous pricks! Mereka akan mengkritik sesiapa yang tidak menyokong mereka.
Nobody’s perfect. Kerajaan BN pun bukanlah sempurna, sekurang-kurangnya mereka tak mengapi-apikan perasaan perkauman. Kalau kerajaan BN, khususnya UMNO mengapi-apikan semangat perkauman, kemelayuan ini, sudah lama ramai kaum lain dah kena potong.
Lately, DAP sedang menjurus membangkitkan semangat kemelayuan ini, dan jangan bermain dengan api. Bila Melayu mengamuk, mereka sanggup mati demi bangsa, ugama dan negara. Itulah asalnya perkataan amuk. Orang Melayu in general, mempunyai sifat toleransi yang tinggi, tapi jangan dicabar. Cuma Melayu bandar saja yang lupa asal usul dan kurang berakal walaupun belajar tinggi.
Yang lucunya, di Penang, ramai masyarakat Cinapun sudah tidak sukakan DAP. Sepenggal DAP di Penang sudah menampakkan belang masing-masing. Perkara yang dituduh BN lakukan, mereka juga lakukan, malah lagi teruk lagi. Orang-orang Penang, tak kira Melayu, Cina dan India sudah pandai mengadakan demo kerana menuntut rumah kos rendah yang dijanjikan oleh kerajaan DAP. Mereka sendiri mempersoalkan tentang pembinaan terowong dasar laut yang tak perlu itu dan yang memakan belanja yang besar. Projek mengkayakan kroni-kroni mereka. Jadi apa bezanya mereka dengan BN yang dituduh mereka corrupt.
Dan masyarkat di Penang ni membantah bukan atas hasutan BN. Malulah pada diri sendiri, tapii mereka ni bukan tahu malupun. Yang menariknya ada seorang apek tua, membonceng motorsikal tuanya, membawa poster mengutuk LGE dan LKS.
http://khairulryezal.blogspot.com/2013/03/gambar-gambar-menarik-pakcik-tua.html
Bercakap mengenai masalah orang-orang India. Mereka yang tidak tahu susah, tidak akan memahami masalah orang yang susah, ataupun pura-pura tak tahu.
Well, the Malaysian culture war has no place for the Hindu/Buddhist component. The disenfrachised with the exception of Muslims , must either assimilate into either the Muslim/Christian dynamic or remain irrelevent.
Funnily enough, I do agree with Haris’s two points about the Blueprint but I wonder why he does not turn his penetrating gaze on the component parties of the alternative front ?
Copypasted below is what Haris wrote about his disagreement with the blueprint:
I will give my views on Haris’ objections in the following comment.
That would be great, Helen. I always wondered what your views were on specific Hindraf policy ideas.
I think I have given a brief one liner on what I thought of the Minority Affairs Department and Hindraf helming it.
As for quotas and affirmative action policies, well I am not in favor of them but this does not mean I think Hindraf should be penalized or labeled as “racist” for advocating such ideas esp in the current context of the race game being played.
I trust you have read the comments to the Haris posting from his blog readers.
Yeah. Sometimes I feel like dropping in there and going Wild Bunch on the lot of them.
I agree with everything you wrote but this :
“Haris is misleading. The Blueprint is a five-year plan only”
People always conveniently forget this.
One of the reasons why I don’t elaborate on why I am against affirmative action programs and other such policies is because nobody in PR has ever made any indication that there is going to be a move in that direction but instead go on about this “class based” approach
AI on his own blog said that Malays would have nothing to fear about this class based approach because they will always be the majority and hence enjoy the benefits of this so called class based approach.
Which begs the question, what then is the difference between a class based apporach and a race based one, in the context of the Malay community ?
The Chinese apparanchiks on the other hand constantly whine that they don’t ask for handouts and that people – Malays and Indians – should learn to be independent and not rely on the goverment which has not played any role in their success as a community.
Then why is it they are so hung up on the issue of meritocracy and egalatarianism when it comes to the goverment ? Why not just abstain from the process, since
nothing the goverment does affects you as a community ?
Sorry for going on a bit of a rant.
I forgot to say this earlier but it seems to me that in accepting or agreeing to what is termed “affirmative action programmes”, then quotas would be part and parcel of it.
Say the blacks in the USA and getting more of them into college. There should by rights be a black quota enrolment.
“First, the provision for a quota for Indians in the proposed vocational training facility.”
Going by Haris’ statement, it appears that Hindraf is only asking for quota in vocational training. And “facility” in singular (possibly one or two or three target institutions). NOT medical school, NOT engineering facility or other ‘high-end’ courses.
Without more info, I’m assuming that these niche seats/openings – say auto welding (my own example) – would be the kind of opportunities form-fitted to get the vulnerable group, i.e. Indian male youth, who may otherwise get involved in crime or gangsterism, off the street.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask and at the same time, so that the college principals etc. pay more attention to Indian enrollment. My ex-boyfriend’s dad during his time was put in Special Class for Malays (an example of being paid particular attention by virtue of ethnicity).
Haris wrote: “Fundamentally, for me, quotas are the very antithesis of meritocracy.”
That’s his Bangsar talk. Meritocracy assumes a level-playing field to start with. Can a teenager from a well-to-do family in Subang Jaya whose parents stress on tuition and grades be compared to a teenager from the boondocks whose parents are kais pagi makan pagi?
On terms of merit, the SJ kid might score straight As. We’re looking at children from disadvantaged schools SJKR (T) whose education would also be patchy due to myriad problems like statelessness.
Haris wrote: “Should the Ibans, the Dayaks, the Kadazans, Orang Asli, Chinese and Malays all be granted quotas should they all make demands for the same?”
Isn’t his blog big on the FedCon? The quotas are provided for under Article 153, as if he doesn’t know or he’s forgotten (neither of which I can believe). So out of his list, the only group to be excluded from the benefit of the quotas would be the Chinese, and perhaps a small likelihood the Orang Asli depending on the Little Napoleon doing the paperwork.
RE: “And should these quotas, year in and year out, be fulfilled, even if those admitted to these educational institutions fall well short of standards set?”
Haris is misleading. The Blueprint is a five-year plan only.
Haris wrote: “If so, let us not pretend to champion meritocracy and be honest enough to see that we are perpetuating a policy long put in place by UMNO / BN.”
Again his own DAP (“meritocracy”) vocabulary that HE is projecting onto Hindraf. The very reason the Blueprint is required is b’cos the Indian poor will not be able to compete on merit due to the underprivileged background.
If they could compete on merit, there would be these problems before us now. So no, Hindraf is not “pretending” anything in the vein that Haris is putting words into their mouths that they are “championing meritocracy”.
Haris wrote: “be honest enough to see that we are perpetuating a policy long put in place by UMNO / BN.”
The Pakatan that he champions has not said anything about discontinuing “that policy long put in place by UMNO / BN.”
If he himself can be “honest enough”, then let’s see him tackle the establishment status quo that is perpetuating the said policy rather than browbeating the weakest group that presently and desperately needs the leg-up.
Hunger strikes are not weapons of the strong.
Weapons of the strong are the foreign contacts (like Washington DC outfits) who can place strategic editorials in WSJ or exert diplomatic pressure via the American embassy or international foundations. Not to forget all that hollering that they (e.g. Jerusubangites) do over the Internet and the complaints that they convey to the wire agencies (news services) about Christian persecution.
A hunger fast in a remote, rural Hindu temple is the ‘weapon’ of the weak.
Typos:
(1) Got my alphabets dyslexic. Meant SRJK (T)
(2) If they could compete on merit, there would NOT be these problems before us now.
To add on:
Haris wrote: “And should these quotas, year in and year out, be fulfilled, even if those admitted to these educational institutions fall well short of standards set?”
I’m not saying that vocational training institutes don’t set or require admission standards but when Haris talks about meeting standards, it’s like requiring 5As STPM to enter medical school.
Pragmatically, it shouldn’t be that rigid to meet the entry requirements b’cos the primary criterion is not academic excellence but more a question of aptitude.
Indian youth should be given VOCATIONAL (keyword) opportunities. It can be in fields that don’t require that string of paper As (if Haris wants to blather on about “falling well short of standards set”).
About Haris’s — “My second misgiving is Hindraf’s proposal for the establishment of a Minority Affairs Ministry, to be helmed by Hindraf.”
I’m just writing ad hoc here, and so disclaiming that the following is any kind of expert opinion.
There is already a Jabatan Orang Asli. Sabah and Sarawak natives can claim whatever the Bumiputera quotas there are.
The Chinese are a minority but what Hindraf wants is a Minister with enough power to get things done that are under his purview.
One of these would be the resettlement of the Displaced Estate Workers. The Chinese do not suffer any massive problems the magnitude of DEWs and involving an entire class of people due to a specific socio-economic trend, i.e. the dismantling of rubber estates where the Indians were a closed and insular self-contained community within those estates.
Haris wrote: “So what we have here is a difference of opinion, not on the real problems confronting the poorest Indians in the country, but on the steps that need be taken to effectively address these problems.”
Hindraf has proposed concrete steps. So what are Haris’s solutions if he has any?
Haris wrote: “These differences may in fact arise simply because whilst Hindraf’s focus is that of the plight of the long marginalised Indians, ABU casts its attention to the entire 40% of the population who have been left out of the mainstream of development in the country.”
Oh really?
I’d thought that ABU’s preoccupation to the point of obsession was to topple Umno and try Dr M for crimes-against-humanity-and-Bangsar. (I’m not making this up. Haris has blogged before that it would be his pleasure to be in the legal team prosecuting Dr M should such a development ever come to pass.)
After all, the acronym for ABU is ‘Asal Bukan Umno’. I do not see the words “miskin”, “daif” or “poverty” in the name of his movement.
“I forgot to say this earlier but it seems to me that in accepting or agreeing to what is termed “affirmative action programmes”, then quotas would be part and parcel of it.”
Exactly.
And nowhere in all this “brilliant forward thinking policies” of PR have I been able to discover any concrete examples of how these supposed class based programs are going to be carried out or more importantly what exactly these affirmative action policies are.
They just like to hear the sound of their own voices and the thumping of their hairy gorilla chests.
ABU should be redefined as Anything But Understanding
(1) Since they’re only tuned in to listening to their own voices, they are unable to hear other people speak. Understanding is even a further distance away.
(2) Then there’s that thump-thump-thump from the chest-beating. More ambient noise.
So Helen, do you have a point? You are by far umnos biggest ugliest most childish cyberteooper. Have you rebutted your allegations that Indians can’t afford rm1? Have you?
Well, um….where did Helen make the allegation that “Indians can’t afford rm1” ?
Here is what she said “Poor people like the Hindraf constituency cannot afford to daily buy the English tabloid”.
I would go further, poor people like the Hindraf constituency is not the target audience of the Engvangelical tabloid.
Also in the context of opportunity cost and the hierarchy of needs.
The RM40 per month spent on The Star is unnecessary expenditure especially if one is on a very tight budget. The cash would be better given as pocket money for the kids to go to school.
A summary:
The article starts with her saying she will debate your comment. It gets diverted into talking about Lynas, Wong Tak, and Harris Ibrahim. A few hundred words and some images later, it ends without addressing your point.
A parallel is that internet celebrity who argued against free education by going into a long talk about cats, dogs, and sharks.
When and where did I say I would “debate” ‘ss’s comment? Quite typical of you to put words into other people’s mouth.
Copypasted below – for your benefit – are the three paragraphs related to ‘ss’:
Your reading comprehension is acutely poor.
As for the “diversion” that you allege, I don’t see it.
Haris Ibrahim’s blog posting WAS indeed about Hindraf and its blueprint for the “Indian poor”. So I don’t see how referencing Haris’s views on Hindraf veered from topic of the “Indian poor” being introduced.
Secondly, the Hindraf 25 Nov 2007 rally was a Makkal Sakti “uprising” by the very same Indian poor that I talked about in the intro.
Thirdly, the contrast between the two rallies – the Hindraf rally participants were all (bar maybe a small handful) Indians while the Hijau rally was a Chinese affair (despite the minority attendance by other races).
In view of the hatchet job carried out by the Bangsar Malaysians against Hindraf, I believe it is perfectly in order to show up their hypocrisy and double standards wrt to the anti-Lynas flip-flop — an almost purely Chinese cause compared with Nov 25 rally, again an almost purely Indian turnout and cause.
For a person who likes to create names and labels for the other political side and threaten communities with “payback”, Helen get really upset (sakit hati) when some one-line replier sarcastically rebuts her assumptions that poor Indians are unable to afford newspapers.
And we get a lintang-pukang red herring that goes on and on about Lynas, Wong Tak, Harris Ibrahim, blablabla.
Speaking of insulting Indians:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/03/28/mp-belittles-hindu-beliefs/
“Me” (?) threaten the Christian and Chinese communities with “payback”?
By the same token, when Dr M, Najib, Sharizat, Muhyiddin et al caution about May 13, then a person like you would also say that all those Umno fellas are threatening to “payback” the recalcitrant GE13 voters with a repeat performance post-election.
It’s people like you who have prompted ‘Temenggong’ (whom I quoted the “payback” comment from) and many, many other non-Chinese to voice their sentiments.
The DAP Chinese and the Jerusubang evangelistas are so syok sendiri you have no idea how the rest of the country looks at you, do you?
Yup, when politicians rattle the sabre of racial violence, its a threat. Gangsteristic threats.
“Vote for my party or there will be racial violence”
” can expect payback after GE13″
“If you don’t pay protection money, there can be trouble”
“Support 3 6 3 if you do not want anything unpleasant”
Yes, very much gangsteristic tactics. See who has been throwing shoes, rocks at ceramahs and trying to disrupt gatherings?
The problem with you is you selectively pick a few comments (people like Temmengong) to be a bellwether for what the country thinks. Even most of the readers that feedback on your blog are the same crowd that visit and comment on other Barisan Nasional leaning blogs
re: “most of the readers that feedback on your blog are the same crowd that visit and comment on other Barisan Nasional leaning blogs”
If you really think so, then the readers here will surely know what to make of you.
Dap mungkin boleh berbangga dgn lebih 80% sokongan Cina, tetapi tidak dikalangn Melayu/Muslim. Berdasarkan pandangan sahabat handai, saudara mara dan cakap2 kedai kopi undi Melayu/Muslim untuk Dap mungkin kurang dari 10%. Berdoalah angka ini silap, jika benar maka betulah kata Helen Dap syiok sendiri….
Dear Helen..I seconded your opinion on this sentences of yours
—–>The DAP Chinese and the Jerusubang evangelistas are so syok sendiri you have no idea how the rest of the country looks at you, do you?
They are the one who look down on others and spew insults not just malays, indians and even other chinese men or women who are not in their same leagues, faith or their party .. frankly speaking.. I’ve had had enough of their antiques…
Me three. Dah cukup meluat dengan karenah dema.