The crowd of mostly agitated Indian youths put up a fight against the heavy machinery and arsenal of the police force. The result was bloody with hundreds of people arrested, brutalized and injured.
The police went on all the way, with all they had to suppress the people whose intentions were merely to hand a memorandum to the British Embassy. If the State had used its wisdom, it could have evaded this confrontation by simply allowing the assemble to proceed. The scene became unruly as always, not because of the assemble but because of the police action against a very determined, highly charged and frustrated community. A community who has been deprived by the divide and rule politics of Malaysia and economic policies which are designed to make race politics dominant.
When thousands of people take to the street, definitely something is wrong. The controlled media is trying to paint a picture that the people were misled but once again one cannot deny that the show of force by the people are real indication that something is really wrong.
November 24th: Members of Malaysia's Indian community have protested on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital.They are demanding equal rights in a country they believe discriminates against them. They are also said to place blame on the colonial policies of Britain, and were intending to deliver a petition to the British High Commission in Malaysia.
How do we march from here after the aftermath of what happened today? Is this nation going to recognise the problem of racism and unite the people or would it create further divisions to split the already fragile and false unity, which has dominated our lives in the last 50 years?
The answers to resolve this problem of racism and ethnicity can only be resolved when Ethnic based structures are destroyed and this task cannot be carried by any ethnic based or religious based movements. The working class and the common people of Malaysia from all walks of life have to unite and built a multi-racial movement to fight racism and bring back the spirit of 1947 to built a class based people's movement.
Only a class based movement not based on ethnicity and religion can truly built a nation without discrimination, race based corruption and race based politics. The ruling party would be able to rule and would continue to rule as long as the people are divided. The ruling party is not going to build a united Malaysian Nation, as it is not going to work to its advantage. The Opposition too have at many occasions being sucked into the same mode to win support of the people.
The future of Malaysia can go two ways – Race and Religious Politics which is the rule of the day versus Class based politics – cutting across race and religion lines. It is a serious question as race and religious politics with its history and conditioning, remain the most effective way to mobilise the racially divided people. It is a question every person have to ask and ponder. It is a question which is going to continue to haunt us.
Today the capitalist controlled UMNO and its coalition partners, using race and religion have won every election but failed to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.
Income disparity between the rich and poor has widens and among the highest in Asia and the rich of all races continue to prosper while the poor of all races continue to suffer.
The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) is determined to continue to mobilise the masses using class politics and find the unity among the people especially the working masses to bring benefit for the majority of the working class irrespective of race and religion because we believe ultimately- wealth has to be shared based on justice and equality.
S.Arutchelvan
Setiausaha Agung
Parti Sosialis Malaysia
