Indian Middle Class Comes to the Force

KUALA LUMPUR, Sun. - Middle-class Indians, often excluded by design or choice from decisions affecting the community, do not want to stay on the sidelines any longer. Come June 1, nearly 1,000 Indian professionals members of non-governmental organisations and other interested parties nationwide will meet here to discuss challenges facing the community.

The conference, themed The Malaysian Indian in the New Millennium - Rebuilding Community, is also aimed at charting a course for the community in the 21st century besides focusing on activities of Indian-based NGOs. Among issues to be addressed are poverty, unemployment, use of unharnessed wealth belonging to Hindu temples, social ills like gangsterism and the divisive nature of linguistic differences. At the end of the two-day event organised by several Indian NGOs, most notably the Educational and Welfare Research Foundation, a list of proposals will be prepared for submission to the MICs.

According to organising committee chairman Prof Datuk Dr C.P.Ramachandran, MIC president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu had been briefed about the conference. The MIC's social wing, the 'Yayasan Strategik Sosial', will be represented at the meeting, by its head, Dr Denison Jayasooria, who will be a commentator at a session. "Datuk Seri Samy Vellu is fully in the picture. We plan to see him before the conference," he said, adding to the conference," he said, adding the organisers wanted to work with the MIC on improving the future of the community.

Ramachandran, who is with the University Putra Malaysia faculty of medicine and health sciences, told the News Straits Times the conference was aimed at rejuvenating the community. "We want to generate new interest among middle-class Indians as to the direction the community is taking and how to tackle the problems and challenges inn its path."

Admitting there was a lot of cynicism where such efforts were concerned, he said the start of the new millennium was the right time to make a concerted effort to address problems facing Indians. Ramachandran said there was a need to mobilise the Indian middle-class towards halting the increasing marginalisation of the community which, he claimed, had been saddled in a recent years with a variety of social problems. He said the Kampung Medan incident last year induced him to discuss the possibility of such a conference with like-minded Indians, adding that the middle-class could not remain aloof to the needs of lower income Indians.

His views were echoed by lawyer G.A. David Dass, joint chairman of the organising committee, who felt the middle-class, who had access to some measure of influence and wealth, were duty-bound to help their less fortunate brethren. "We have too stop the disintegration of the community. The middle-class has not done enough so far to help the community," he said. "We feel the MIC is the best organisation to help the Indians. We also want to harness the untapped resources of Indians, including professionals like doctors, lawyers and others towards the common causes," Dass said.

Leading educationist Kumar Menon, a member of the organising commitee, was of the view the time had come for the middle-class to act, especially in education. "The middle-class, which has been totally indifferent to the needs of the community so far, has to consider what it can do." Menon, Stamford College Berhad senior director (special projects) and a lawyer by training, said Indians, regardless of linguistic background, had to unite to support Tamil as the main Indian language.

This should extend to Tamil schools which, he felt, were an obvious indicator of the community's presence. "We need a radical reform of the Tamil school system. We are not saying that all Indians should send their children to such schools but that it has to be an alternative to the national school system." Menon said Hindu temples "which had hundreds of millions in assets to their name" should use the money to help the community. "The new millennium is a time for the Indian community to be reconfigured and repaired. The country stands to gain from a stronger Indian community."

The conference has attracted speakers like economist Dr R. Thillainathan, University Kebangsaan lecturer Prof Dr. P. Ramasamy and Sri Murugan Centre head Datuk Dr M. Thambirajah. Session chairman will include former Finance Minister secretary-general Tan Sri Clifford Herbert, former Finance Ministry deputy secretary-general Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, and Multimedia Development Corporation senior vice president Datuk V.Danabalan. Participants have to pay RM150 for the seminar and the conference dinner at Istana Hotel. Those interested can call 03-77285508 or 03-77272303 or e-mail sathish@deolco.com

(Link to http://www.malaysianindianconference.org/)