PM Apologises – Would Msian PM Do It Too?

PM Apology – Would Malaysian Indian Get It?
13 February was a historic day in the annals of Australia. On that day, the Prime Minister formally apologised to the aboriginal people for what happened to the “stolen generation”. This was meant to refer to a generation of aboriginal children who were taken from their families to live in a white Australia setting. Never mind that the motivation could have been the welfare of the aboriginal children themselves and never mind that there was in fact a scarcity of such a “generation”. There were apparently only a handful of such incidents (where aboriginal children were removed from their families to live with white Australia), never enough to be termed a “generation”. The point I think, was that there was sufficient collective guilt on the part of white Australia to bring about this formal and extremely public apology.
This may sound unfair to my indian friends in Malaysia but to make a point, I am going to say the indian community is the Malaysian equivalent of the aboriginal community in Australia. The comparison is especially apt to illustrate the disadvantaged positions of each group in their respective countries. They are marginalized in education and employment opportunities. Their share in the nations’ wealth is next to nothing.
Can you imagine anyone in government, let alone the head, formally and publicly apologizing? Even after tens of thousands have taken to the streets to air their grievances, the government has refused to act or even acknowledge the problem. Instead, it has thrown community leaders into jail, made wild and unfounded allegations and generally behaved like the Indian’s legitimate cry for help is a pesky little nuisance which has to be stamped out in a hurry so that it would stop annoying the ruling elite and interrupt their gold digging activities.
It is no secret that malays think somehow indians are congenitally inferior creatures. I wonder why this thinking persists in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. India is increasingly viewed as a world giant in so many aspects of life. For a while (when the stock market soared) it had the world richest man. Its companies are world class, providing consulting and expert service all across the globe. Manmohan Singh, its Prime Minister, is eminently more qualified and I would not be surprised if it can put the entire Malaysian cabinet in his pocket with acres of space to spare. Its sporting prowess is fast reclaiming lost ground. In our recent trip to Malaysia I couldn’t help following its very successful hockey junior world cup team. In Australia its cricket team is giving the world champion a more than fair whack, threatening to dethrone the mighty but sometimes arrogant Aussies. Its young team, especially the bowlers are giving as good as it gets – often better.  What made the malay think he is better than the indian?