Open letter to Hamidah Osman, Perak State Assembly member

Tota takes to task Perak State Assembly member Hamidah Osman for her derogatory and insulting remarks against Indian Malaysians. He reminds her that Malay culture has many elements borrowed from Hindu and Indian linguistic and cultural traditions.

Let me state that I have no quarrel with the Malay community which is talented, works hard and is able to stand proudly on its feet. In fact, I owe my life to a first-class Malay cardiothoracic surgeon and my hearing was restored by a Malay ENT Specialist with great skill and expertise.

Coming to Hamidah Osman, the assemblywoman for Rapat, your reference in the Perak State Assembly about whether to kill the snake or the Indian when you encounter both (with obvious reference to Hon. Speaker Sivakumar) is rude, crude and uncivilised to say the least. If not the whole Assembly, at least the Speaker should have crucified you.

It would be too much to expect an ignoramus like you to know that the snake and Indian joke was concocted by Pale Face when they were blissfully committing genocide to exterminate the poor Native Indians from the face of the earth. A dumbo like you would not know that Malaysia, indeed the whole of S.E. Asia was part of a Hindu Empire. There is sufficient archaeological evidence to prove this. The Malay language owes much to Indian languages, like Sanskrit and Tamil, from which it has borrowed liberally. Words like raja, bumi, waktu, cakra, putra – to name a few – are from Sanskrit. Many Tamil words, with slight alteration in spelling, are widely used in BM pitam (same in BM and Tamil -meaning bitter or bile), pudina (BM)/puthina (Tamil) (mint) and the sin you committed, penganiayaan (BM)/aniyayam (Tamil). In contrast the number of Arabic words is few and far between except for borrowings from the Holy Koran. The Malay bersanding is from Tamil culture; in Arabia where Caliphs ruled, there was no crowning of rulers, so the crowning ceremony of our rulers that we witness on television is very Hindu in nature. The popularity of Hindi movies among the Malays shows an inner link that cannot be suppressed.

So Hamidah Osman, you want “to kill the Indians”. Malaya’s economy was already globalised at the beginning of the 20^th century when tin and rubber were our biggest money earners. While the Chinese worked the tin mines, millions of Indians slaved in the rubber estates. Countless numbers of them died from malaria and tuberculosis – the two deadly diseases then. Much of Malaysia’s early development and progress was due to their sacrifice.

After humiliating the Indians, true to Umno’s Ketuanan Melayu, Malay supremacy and Malay hegemony philosophy, will you, in keeping with your Umno leaders’ aspirations, want to similarly target the Chinese?

A bodoh like you will not know that it is an acknowledged and accepted fact that 90 per cent of taxes in the country are paid by the non-Malays. The NEP, designed to eradicate poverty regardless of ethnicity, was hijacked by Umno, which masqueraded as champions of Bangsa and Ugama, and robbed and plundered the country’s wealth to enrich a class of Umnoputras, of whom you are one. The fact that the income differential in highest in the Malay community compared to any community in Asia is a stark fact confirming the manipulation and exploitation of the Malay community. The taxes go to support leeches and parasites with handouts and subsidies. A dimwit like you probably believes Ghani Othman, MB of Johor, who claims that Malays belong to a superior race about whom Marina Mahathir posed the question: What is so great about people who survive on handouts and subsidies?

I wonder where you will find the money to rehabilitate the drug addicts, rapists, pedophiles, Aids sufferers, incest perpetrators, corrupt police and civil servants and Mat Rempits.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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