At rally, Hindraf 2.0 demands seven Indian-majority seats
Reporter / Source：Kow Gah Chie / Malaysiakini
Published: 12 May 2019, 5:49 pm | Modified: 12 May 2019, 5:49 pm
Hindraf 2.0 de facto leader P Uthayakumar
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf 2.0) wants these seats to be created at Padang Serai, Batu Kawan, Ipoh Barat, Kota Raja, Port Dickson, Tebrau and Cameron Highlands.
"Unlike Western civil society, where the majority speaks up for minorities, the politically and economically powerful Malay and Chinese in this country hardly speak up for the Indian poor.
"For 62 years, they haven't spoken up for Indians, be they from BN or Pakatan Harapan," Hindraf 2.0 de facto leader P Uthayakumar said after a rally in Brickfields. His brother P Waythamoorthy is the minister in the Prime Minister's Department under the Harapan government.
"Currently, we have Indian MPs, but they have no voice because they won on the votes of the Chinese and Malays.
"There is no voice without fear and favour, they have to dance to the tune of the Malay and Chinese political masters," he added.
As such, Uthayakumar said, Indian-majority seats should be created so that lawmakers – regardless of their race – are empowered to speak for the community.
This can be done by reducing the non-Indian voters in these seats, he added.
"I have written to the EC earlier today.
"In India, two parliamentary seats were ab initio entrenched into the Independence Constitution of India for the minority Anglo-Indian community.
"In Sarawak, four Orang Ulu state seats with a smaller voter base and a parliamentary seat were created, leading to Baru Bian being in a position of power in the cabinet," he said.
The rally earlier today saw about a 100 protesters march through Brickfields, carrying banners reading "reject the continuation of racial discrimination, upset at becoming second class citizens."
Uthayakumar and representatives of Indian NGOs spoke in Tamil when they raised the plight of poor Indians.
Speaking to the media later, the Hindraf 2.0 leader touched on the issue of matriculation and how the government was reluctant to help the Indian community.
Uthayakumar said the government also pledged to resolve the stateless Indians problem within 100 days of taking power.
He estimated that there are 350,000 stateless Indians in the country and the Harapan government only managed to resolve 0.5 percent of the problem in the first year of power.
"The excuse of Harapan having no money does not hold water as this can be done at the stroke of a pen by the prime minister and home minister.
"To me, this is the continuation of a racist and supremacy policy," he said, adding that the government has no political will to fulfil its promises to the Indian community.
Uthayakumar lamented that only one percent of the promises to the Indian community was fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Nyam Kee Han（left 2）, a representative of Johor-based Sahabat Rakyat, pointed out that both the Chinese and Indians were the victims of the Malay supremacy.
He called on the activists from the Indian community and Hindraf 2.0 to join hands with the Chinese in their struggle so that they can have a bigger voice.
Asked to elaborate on this later, Nyam said he felt several policies, such as the New Economic Policy, matriculation and the racial quota system, were not fair to other ethnic groups.
He said he agreed with Hindraf 2.0 that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which stipulated the special position of the Malays, was the core problem.
Nyam added that this is because the provision has created policies to safeguard the Malays and led to the discrimination of other races.
"This is where we feel the need for review. If it is not right, it should be abolished," he said.
兴权会2.0向选委会提出建议:
创设7个印裔选民占多数国席
作者 / 来源：<当今大马>华文版
原标题：
他族议员难代表发声，兴权会倡议创造7印裔国席
当今大马 发表于 2019年5月12日晚上7点11分 更新于 同日晚上9点23分
兴都权益行动委员会今日在十五碑举办游行（<人民之友>编者注：只是集会，不是游行），除了提出兴都社区的问题外，更向选举委员会抛出“创造7个印裔为主国席”的倡议。
兴权会创始人乌达雅古玛（P Uthayakumar，见上图1）说明，他们希望选委会能够重新划分7个国席，即巴东色海、峇都交湾、怡保西区、哥打拉惹、波德申、地不佬及金马仑高原
而重划目的在于修改这些选区的种族比例，把印裔以外的族群划到毗邻选区，好让印裔选民比例提高，变成选区的多数族群，进而让印裔在国会有更多的政治代表。
“不像西方文明社会，大多数人为少数群体发声，但在这个国家掌握着政经权力的马来人及华人，很少为贫困的印度人说话。”
“62年来，不管是来自国阵或希盟，他们不曾为印裔发声。”
印裔议员也受制于人
“目前，我们有少数的印裔国会议员，但他们无能为力，他们靠华人或马来人的选票胜出。”
乌达雅古玛说，这导致这些印裔议员受制于人，须配合巫华政治人物的论调起舞。
如此一来，他倡议设立印裔为主的国席，这样不管任何族群，都有代表为自己的族群说话。
他说明，通过减少上述国席的非印裔选民人数，借而提高印裔比例，就可以实现这项建议。
“今天较早前我已经写信给选委会了。”
印度有类似的做法
乌达雅古玛举例，印度宪法一开始就保留两个国席给少数民族的盎格鲁印度人社群，在穆斯林多数的以色列及伊朗，也有保留议席给犹太人。
他指出，在砂拉越也保留1个国席和4个州席给乌鲁人，这得以让砂州公正党主席巴鲁比安，得以在内阁占有一职。
值得一提的是，乌达雅古玛的胞弟，即瓦塔慕迪目前出任首相署部长，负责国民团结事务。
这场集会获得约100人出席，部分人手持写着“反对延续种族歧视，不满沦为次等公民”的横幅（见上图2）。
抨希盟无意兑现承诺
乌达雅古玛及出席集会的印裔非政府组织也挑起贫困印裔的教育困境。
他向媒体指出，印裔社群面对无国籍、大学预科班学位不足等问题，但政府却不愿帮助他们。
他更点出，希盟曾答应在执政百日内解决无国籍印裔课题，但最终却跳票。
他估计，国内共有35万名无国籍印裔，而希盟政府在执政第一年，只解决了其中的0.5%人数。
“希盟用没钱为借口，这是站不住脚的，首相和内政部长其实可以轻而易举就办到。”
“对我而言，这只是种族主义和霸权政策的延续。”
他批评，政府根本没有政治意愿去兑现给印裔社群的承诺，当中只完成了1%。
印华裔受促联手斗争
另一方面，人民之友（Sahabat Rakyat）的一名代表严居汉（见上图3左2）声称，华裔和印裔都是马来霸权政策下的受害者。
他呼吁印裔社运组织和兴权会，与华裔联手一起斗争，扩大两个种族的声音。
他受询时解释，国家多个政策都对其他族群不公平，如新经济政策、大学预科班和种族固打制。
他说，他认同兴权会，联邦宪法第153条文中阐明的马来特权是问题的核心。
他续称，这样的条文旨在保护马来人，进而歧视其他族群。
“这是我们觉得应该审视的地方，如果不对，就应该废除。”#
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