Focus on books, not bullets

The Indian community is in the news again with shootings and street brawls. But the story of education icon Tan Sri Dr M. Thambirajah should inspire us to concentrate on what’s important.

A MAN dies in Brickfields, shot outside a restaurant. Another man dies in his sleep at his home in an upmarket residential area in Kuala Lumpur.

What is the connection between the two? None, yet plenty.

While they have no links to each other, they represent the diametric opposites of the Indian community. The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, if you want, of the community. The yin and yang, the good and bad.

The man shot dead was reportedly caught in the middle of a gangland warfare, a bane of the community.

The one who died in his sleep, on the other hand, was Tan Sri Dr M. Thambirajah, an icon of the Indian community who had given decades of service to it. His cause was a beacon of hope for society.

These are the two sides of Malaysia’s Indian community, one that has been struggling to find its identity and direction after remaining backward for more than a century in the country.

On the one hand, the Indians want to push forward, gain an education and earn their place in society; on the other, they find “glory, recognition” and wealth in being gangland leaders.

Dr Thambirajah chose the good path. Back when he was a lecturer at Universiti Malaya, he saw that few Indians were making it in the field of education, so he took it upon himself to provide education in the hope of getting more of them into tertiary institutions.

He roped in a few undergraduates; he helped train the young and it took off from there.

Today, the Sri Murugan Centre (SMC) that he started is one of the biggest tuition centres in the country, yet it remains more of a charitable organisation whose goal is to uplift the community.

The students also seek divine help. Every year, there is a Kalvi Yathirai, a pilgrimage of education to Batu Caves, and Arjuna Vyugam, a seminar to help the students prepare for major exams.

More than 10,000 students are enrolled each year with many achieving good results. And they give back to SMC as educators.

It is a continuing process. For that, we have to be grateful to Thambirajah. He was successful in what he did. And many, including the Deputy Prime Minister, came to pay their respects and see him off.

But you should see the videos of some of the funerals of those who are killed in gangland slayings. They get amazing, grand send-offs.

Indian gangsterism, once held under check after Ops Cantas Khas in 2014-2015 – which saw many fleeing across the border – now seems to be back.

There have been a series of shootings, drunken brawls and knife attacks in recent days, and while not all involved the Indian community, many did.

It’s a huge issue that needs to be handled. Education, of course, is the answer.

But therein lies the problem. Schools have become the battleground between the two sides.

While organisations like SMC want the children to excel in their studies, gangsters lure them with easy-come riches from illegal deeds and violence.

And it works. It reminds me of what the villain in the Malaysian movie Jaggat says: “Education is important, but education bows to power”

They have infiltrated temples, too. While the SMC children go there to pray for success, these gangs use them as headquarters, as symbols of their activity. Even the Hindu swastika is not spared.

The gangsters have to be kept away from schools and temples. We need enforcement to ensure that.

For too long now, gangsterism has run riot in the country, especially among the Indian community.

Many years ago, there were excuses to be made; the Indians were a displaced community, they were moved out of estates with no real relocation or economic plans for them.

They were left to fend for themselves, and forced to stay in squalid squatter areas.

They had little education, they were poor and crime seemed to be the only way out of poverty.

Not anymore. Those squatter areas are gone. Education is available to all; it’s only a question of whether they want to make use of it or not.

The story of Dr Thambirajah serves as another example. Born to a rubber tapper in Sungai Buntar estate in rural Kedah, he had to trek for 15 miles to Sungai Petani to go to a private English school instead of the Tamil school in the estate.

He knew poverty, and he needed help from relatives and scholarships to finish his education. But he persevered, and he made it. Others can, too.

The Indians of today have better avenues of support. True, jobs remain scarce with the government prioritising the Malay-Bumiputra communities and the private sector more often than not preferring Mandarin-speaking Chinese.

But that is not to say there are no jobs. Many Indians are gainfully employed, a large number as highly-paid professionals. And there are businessmen who are doing very well.

The problem is even in business, gangsterism plays a part. Many so-called gangland wars are also turf wars for businesses, both legal and illegal.

Even politicians are said to use gangsters to further their cause.

Maybe the time has come for a new Ops Cantas Khas, with the new Inspector-General of Police ensuring the bad hats all fall into the net, and the cops at the border ensuring that none of them escape to the other side.

We need a cleansing of the Indian community to remove once and for all the stigma that it is a community of drunken, misbehaving thugs running around with guns.

It’s easier said than done, but only with a cleansing can the community stand proudly again as one with top professionals and upright citizens.

The passing of Dr Thambirajah should inspire us to step up and stay his course – to concentrate on books, and not emulate those brandishing guns.