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MARGINALIZATION OF THE INDIANS
PART ONE
First Posted on 30 November 2009
Through these columns I intend to present a picture of the marginalization of
the Indian poor in Malaysia and also try and put forth a coherent explanation
of how it happened. I am going to do this in several parts. I am doing this to
break the myth that what has happened to the Indian poor in the country is
inevitable and is Indian ethnic in its causes. That it all happened because
they lack values, they lack religion, they watch too much Astro, they arebasically violent and such other myths as our current day theoreticians both
within the community as outside the community will have us believe.
Here is the First part.
First some basic information that will help us understand the story that will
be presented a little better.
Basic data of Malaysia
Population by ethnic group Malaysia, 2010
Total Malay Other
Bumiputera
Chinese Indian Others
26,784,96
5
14,749,378 3,197,993 6,520,559 1,969,343 347,692
100% 55.1% 12% 24.3% 7.4% 1.2%
As can be seen from this data Indians form 7.4% of the total population of
Malaysia in a census projection from the Department of Statistics,
Government of Malaysia. The Indians are a minority group, a distinct
minority group.
http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/2009/11/30/marginalization-of-the-indians-part-one/http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/2009/11/30/marginalization-of-the-indians-part-one/http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/2009/11/30/marginalization-of-the-indians-part-one/http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/2009/11/30/marginalization-of-the-indians-part-one/8/3/2019 Marginalization of the Indians Part One-1
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During the period since the Independence the per capita Gross Domestic
Product ( GDP), an indicator of the economic progress and status of a
country just like your salary, rose from about RM 2,500 per year in 1960
to RM15,000 in 2008. Quite a performance. The economy changed from
being primarily a commodity producing & agricultural economy (like
production of rubber and palm oil) to a manufacturing orientated economy.
See table below:
% of GDP 1960 2008Agriculture 40 9.7
Manufacturin
g
9 44.6
The Indians were largely involved in the rubber plantations as tappers in a
relatively modern form of agricultural production at the inception of the
nation. Though it is not food, that was produced, it was a cash crop and it
was grown so we call it agriculture. Since then there has been a
tremendous shift in the structure of the economy. The plantation economy
slowly gave way to an industrial economy. Factories started to replace the
rubber estates as the main feature of the economy.
While this was happening Malaysian politics also went through significant
change. The 4 key phases in the development of the politics are the period
1957 1969, 1969 1981. 1981 -2004, 2004 - present. Each of these
phases is characterized by key historical phenomena that both chronicles
what has happened in Malaysian politics as well as explain how it all
happened.
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While these were occurring, the Indian population, a minority to start with,
coupled with the fact that they were in the lowest rung of Malaysian society
experienced significant outward push from the mainstream of all these
developments economic, political and social.
The Indians have not benefited in equal measures as the other communities
in spite of the rapid economic development that the country experienced in
this period. In these columns I will try to set out the various forms of the
push out or marginalization that the Indian poor faced in these various
phases and why this has happened. Essentially we all know what has
happened - but we know them as sporadic and separate events. What I will
attempt to do is to connect all these events, join the dots so to speak, and
draw a big picture for you all to see - hopefully making the truth clearer.
But first let me start with what marginalization means:
In sociology, marginalisation is the social process of becoming or being
made marginal - to be sent to the fringes, out of the mainstream; or to
confine to a lower social standing. make seem unimportant, the
marginalization of the underclass is a clear example. In its most extreme
form, marginalization can exterminate groups.
Many communities experience marginalization. As a result of
marginalization, communities have lost their land, were forced into destitute
areas, lost their traditional sources of income, and were excluded from the
labour markets. Additionally, communities have lost their culture and values
and lost their rights in society .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underclasshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underclasshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism8/3/2019 Marginalization of the Indians Part One-1
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Today the Malaysian Indian community is marginalized from Malaysian
society as a result of the development of practices, policies and programs
that only meet the needs of the power elite but not the needs of the
marginalized Indian poor. This marginalization is also significantly
connected to the power elite maintaining and enforcing ways by which we
think and talk about things. The way we have been conditioned by the
information trickling to us, or by way people talk around us, we may even
have difficulty acknowledging that marginalization has occurred to the
Indian community in Malaysia.
This is my task, to make it very clear, what has happened and why it has
happened.
The marginalization experienced by the Indians in Malaysia is multifaceted.
Specifically they can be categorized into:
1) Economic marginalization
To be denied opportunities for participating productively in the
economic development of the nation. To have been pushed out of the
mainstream of economic development.
2) Political marginalization
To be denied equal opportunity to participate in the decision making
processes relating to allocation of the national resource or the social
and economic development of the community. Political clout taken
away by virtue of the political processes of the country. In the
process losing political rights as a citizen and as a minority
community.
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3) Social marginalization
To be cast aside socially as the dreg with the social stereotypes as
labourers, drunks, untrustworthy individuals, black and smelly
fellows,
dependent and always complaining to name a few of the stereotypes
usually associated with being Indian poor in Malaysia. The result of
all this is the blocking of the Indian poor from developing pride as
worthy individuals, and as a community of poor being denied
the opportunities for practicing and developing the salient culture of
the Indians. This becomes a self reinforcing process.
I will discuss each of these aspects of marginalization in the
subsequent parts. I will also discuss the sociological basis of all of
this.
I will try to break the stereotyped explanations offered for the state of
the Indian community and show how through the progress of the
development of Malaysian society, this outcome has occcurred.
It has nothing to do with the Indianness in all of us as current
Discourse will have us believe. It has only to do with the political
economy of the country.
End of Part One
Part two will follow shortly. Stay tuned.
Naragan
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