A time for hope, mindset change

IT is a time of celebration for Indians around the world. In just days, they will celebrate Ponggal.

It is a festival known by many names – Makkar Sakranti, Makara Vilakku, Lohri and Khichari – but whatever the name, it marks the end of a long winter.

It’s a time when the hours of sunlight grow longer and spring is in the air. Like the warm air, hope rises, too. The Tamils have a saying for it: “Thai piranthalmpiranthaal vazhi pirakkum” (When the month of Thai is born, hope abounds).

It is such an important festival for Tamils that in many parts of the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, January has been designated as Tamil Heritage Month with Ponggal as its centrepiece.

While the month of Thai begins on Thursday, Indians (of all religions) will light bonfires a day earlier – on Bhogi– setting ablaze old clothes and unwanted things. It’s symbolic. The old is discarded and the new welcomed. It’s rejuvenation or rebirth.

There are lessons there for the Indians of Malaysia. No, we don’t need bonfires that add to the air pollution, but we do need to get rid of old mindsets or archaic thinking and embrace new methods.

For far too long, Indians in Malaysia have been labelled as poverty-stricken, with little access to education or business and work opportunities; and stigmatised as a society known more for gangsterism, parang attacks and gunshot deaths than anything else.

But is that true? In December, a couple of Indian movie stars came to Malaysia. One was Ajith Kumar. He was here for the Michelin 12H Race. Never heard of it? Neither had I. It is one of the lesser-known race events, a far cry from the Formula One races that the Sepang F1 Circuit used to host.

Yet, the stands were packed with paying – and baying – fans who wanted to see him race. Even the Sepang circuit folk must have been surprised, very pleasantly so. It’s not often that they see crowds like that.

Two weeks ago, there was Vijay, an actor-turned-politician. He decided to launch the audio for his next movie with a concert at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Some 85,000 people showed up, with the cheapest tickets priced at RM116 and the most expensive at RM5,115. There are claims that the organisers raked in more than RM25mil in ticket sales – before expenses, of course.

Once concertgoer tried to get a taxi home to Ampang after the show, which ended well past 1am. The fare the cabbie asked for? RM800. The passenger waited till dawn to take a Grab home.

The movie itself was due to have been screened yesterday but has been delayed. But ticket sales did start and more than 200,000 were snapped up in just 24 hours. At RM17 apiece, that’s a cool RM3.4mil.

The point is this: Malaysian Indians do have money to spend.

Of course, it is an individual’s personal right to spend their money on entertainment or at car races, but we can hardly claim abject poverty while spending millions on movie stars, can we?

It’s a stark contrast. Many Indians are indeed struggling to make ends meet, but many also have a lot of loose change lying around. That loose change is actually serious money and, if it can be multiplied and ploughed back into society, there will be no need to keep crying “discrimination”.

Imagine if all that money is channelled into a venture that generates profits, an Indian sovereign fund of sorts, with a part of the profits going to the community. It would bring sweet tidings – as sweet as the rice served on Ponggal.

Talking of money, we could look at our temples, too. A lawyer has just sued the management of a temple in Kuala Lumpur that, he says, is sitting on over RM2bil in cash and assets. That’s a lot of money. And that’s just one temple. Others – in Penang, Johor, Perak – are sitting on hillocks of cash, too.

Again, there is the other side of the coin – hundreds of temples are also squatting illegally on land that belongs to others and they need funds to be rescued. Many, of course, deserve to be demolished; they are nothing more than fund-raising centres for unscrupulous people.

But many others are centuries-old temples caught by circumstances when rubber estates became housing estates.

How is it right that some temples are flush with funds to the tune of billions while others face destruction? Aren’t they all dedicated to the same God, the same belief system? Shouldn’t one hand be helping the other?

The government, to be fair, is doing what it can. Many temples are given alternative land and even money to raise their structures, but the structure we need is not one of brick and mortar. We need to have one that says how, when, where and why a temple should be built.

There would be so much less heartache – and hatred – if there was such a structure.

Then, there are schools. The good news is that Tamil schools, along with all other schools, are getting a helping hand. They will get RM50mil this year, up from RM30mil. There is a lot that can be done with that kind of money.

And if the rich, especially businessmen making big bucks by bringing in movie stars and temples flush with funds, can lend a helping hand, there is much that can be achieved.

Tamil schoolchildren have shown themselves to be worthy investments. We have been hearing of their exploits in the international arena for years now.

In fact, even as Ajith Kumar was making headlines in Sepang, these pupils were winning over 80 medals in the World Robot Games in Taiwan. No crowds for them, just achievements.

Imagine if they had the backing of those who spend millions elsewhere. They could go very far. We could have CEOs and top-notch techies instead of gun and parang-toting gangsters.

The Indians need a plan; one that allows them to pool resources and put them to best use. No more cries of “kuil haram”, no more Tamil schools in containers or dilapidated buildings, no more begging for scraps and hoping for handouts.

These are the things that have to be burnt during Bhogi. And when Ponggal dawns, it’s time for a new spring.

Iniya Ponggal Nalvazhthukkal to all.