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A poll under the shadow of unrest

Malaysia, for the first time since its independence in 1957, is going to the polls in a political ambience of deep discontent and open unrest among its ethnic Indian community.

Outwardly, these two-million minority of ethnic Indians, who owe their existence in Malaysia to a historical wrong by colonial Britain and now form about eight per cent of the population, are in no position to dictate the outcome of the snap poll, set for March 8.

Political pundits, while not willing to bet on the poll-related impact of the current unrest among Malaysian Indians, do not rule out a scenario in which they could still emerge as a swing factor in favour of the opposition in at least a few constituencies. The reason for this ambiguity is not far to seek.

There is not a single constituency with a majority of ethnic Indians. They have a diffused demographic presence, but some observers trace the related poll arithmetic to the political tactics of the Malay-Muslim majority. And, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), in power since independence as part of the multiracial Barisan Nasional (B.N.) coalition, has invariably relied on the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other allies, for electoral victories. So, although MIC won in all the constituencies which were allotted to it by the UMNO in the last general election in 2004, the result did not really reflect any special ethnic-Indian love affair with the B.N.

It is a different matter that the long-time MIC leader, Samy Vellu, portrayed the 2004 poll result as an index of a special relationship between Malaysian Indians and the B.N., at one level, and of his own unassailable position among this community, at another. Both these readings are now in a shambles.

This is evident from the manner in which the ethnic Indians have, in recent months, rallied behind the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), essentially a non-political group, some of whose leaders, nonetheless, have links with the opposition parties. On balance, Hindraf, which organised a mass protest rally in Kuala Lumpur last November and also an unusual “roses campaign” in the same city on February 16, has placed the plight of Malaysian Indians in the public domain of a news-hungry international community.

The MIC’s poll fortunes are closely linked to B.N.’s overall standing, which depends on the popularity of the UMNO and its allies sustained by the ethnic Chinese, who form the largest minority with an affluence-quotient far above that of the majority-Malays. This is so, despite the Malays being beneficiaries of the state’s prolonged affirmative action, which was started in their singular favour for historical reasons. Hindraf and independent observers say that nearly 70 per cent of Malaysian Indians have been, in this process, left behind in the “poor-underclass.”

In this broad context, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who now accuses Hindraf of “disrupt[ing] the election process,” had, in fact, chosen to follow a conventional law-and-order approach to quell its “roses campaign.” The unusual form of protest by the disaffected ethnic Indians was announced in early January itself, and it was only on February 13 that Mr. Abdullah dissolved Parliament and sought a fresh mandate. And, while Hindraf decided against calling off this “campaign,” keeping in mind the possible “advantage” of a higher impact during the run-up to this general election, Mr. Abdullah’s administration, too, was fully aware of the larger political limitations of these ethnic Indians.

This should explain the traditional law-and-order attitude of the security forces towards the protesters, who began the day by waving red and yellow roses as a gesture of “goodwill” towards Mr. Abdullah and the authorities. For Hindraf, yellow roses symbolised its demand that Malaysian Indians be granted “equal rights” alongside the Malays and ethnic Chinese. The group also demanded that five of its top leaders, being held under the Internal Security Act without legally-testable charges and without recourse to trial at all, be released. The five — P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganapati Rao, M. Manoharan, R. Kengadharan, and T. Vasanthakumar — were detained for two years, following their lead roles in last November’s mass protest.

And, red was Hindraf’s colour of choice to convey “goodwill” towards the Malaysian state. As with the November rally, which was featured by a display of poster-pictures of Mahatma Gandhi as a sign of Hindraf’s peaceful protest, the authorities quelled the “roses campaign” too by firing tear gas and targeting water cannon at the enthusiastic crowds at several places in Kuala Lumpur. Evident, though, during the standoff between Hindraf supporters and the security forces at a temple in Kuala Lumpur were the first signs of the newly emerging “spirit” among Malaysian Indians. Over-enthusiastic protesters were counselled by others against provoking the police and turning the spotlight away from the demand of Malaysian Indians for a “fair deal.” And, at the height of the standoff, an ethnic Indian woman was seen walking towards the temple, with a child in tow, to show her “solidarity.” Later, Malaysian Indian professionals like S. Nadarajah, not present at the scene of the standoff near the temple on that day, narrated how this new “spirit” of wanting a better deal was spreading through the community.

From the government standpoint, it remained “even handed” in dealing with protest rallies, as different from expressions of support, by any ethnic community or activist group. The “practised administrative norm” is not to allow street demonstrations.

It is not that exceptions have not been made. A few years ago, a few hundred student-activists were permitted to march along the streets of Kuala Lumpur in support of the constitutional provision that places matters concerning Islam and its laws beyond the purview of civil courts even in respect of non-Muslims.

For Malaysian Indians, most of whom are Hindus, and the ethnic Chinese, almost all of whom are non-Muslims, unresolved still are the issues about the relative jurisdictions of civil judiciary and Shariah courts over “disputes” relating to conversions to Islam.

The fundamental but unstated issue in the poll arena, which goes beyond the social place of Islam, is the reconfiguration of Malaysia’s multiracial polity. A conglomeration of major parties, each representing one racial group or the other, has constituted the unvarying nucleus of successive governments, all formed by the B.N., at the federal level since independence. This is often traced to the “Merdeka [freedom] compact” among the Malays, ethnic Chinese and the people of Indian origin in the then Malaya region.

In contrast, the main opposition parties — the Democratic Action Party and the Parti Keadilan Rakyat — have begun to mirror multiracialism within their individual ranks. Significantly in the present context, each of these two parties fielded a Hindraf leader, as nominations were accepted on Sunday (February 24) for the March 8 general election.

And, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, which has for the first time renounced its goal of establishing an Islamic state, nominated an ethnic Indian. Should these trends succeed and take hold, a reconfiguration of Malaysia’s multiracial polity will be a vibrant issue.

The long-term question, then, will be whether Malaysia can shift from its existing system of a perpetual coalition of race-based parties to another system featuring competition among multiracial parties or even among coalitions of multi-ethnic parties.

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