Community Disgraced!

The recent ruckus by the supporters of Dato’ Saravanan, Vice President of MIC at the Tamil Malar Newspaper headquarters was indeed a disgraceful act of a senior politician, another shameful incident after the recent gruesome death due to bullying of student Navin that the Indian community has to endure. Another hidden stigma of the community surfacing!

The Indian youth has been generally associated with gangsterism and today an Indian leader had demonstrated openly that gangsterism does also exist at the helm of a senior party of the ruling government. Though Dato’ Saravanan denies any involvement there are enough visuals that proof otherwise…. the power of social media! It is not like those days where a mere statement of non-involvement may have sufficed. This time around Dato’ Saravanan has to go the extra mile to prove his innocence that the action by his supporters is not his doing.

GOPIO Malaysia feels that this incident should not have happened. It is even uglier when a woman is hit during the incident. It is totally unacceptable. It reflects on the diminishing of the value system amongst the youth involved in the incident. It further stigmas the Indian community leadership. If there are issues of fake news there are channels that can be utilized to resolve the matters amicably. Ideally, a police report could have been made to investigate any allegations. Taking the law into their own hands is definitely not the right thing to do. It only complicates issues further.

We cannot deny that over the years gangsterism, on the quiet, has been part and parcel of Indian politics. We have often heard of several leaders have been associated with gang-related activities in the country.   However, these grouses were never given the right attention because of the weakness and helplessness of the community due to systematic marginalization over the years. The Indian youth have learned to survive in that order. Perhaps the youth have overreacted on behalf of their leader.

GOPIO Malaysia feels that it is important the community leaders take stock on this incident and look into measures to avoid such irresponsible and blind reaction. The relevant authorities have to thoroughly investigate the matter.

A Ravendiran Arjunan

President, GOPIO Malaysia.