Pelik tapi benar

Strange but true! (Pelik tapi benar) Waytha Moorthy did not want to travel in the same car with me to Teluk Intan for “security reasons” and fearing the Malaysian security forces. I initially thought that he was joking. I have been attacked on two occasions before by the police and on the second time at gun point. Waytha Moorthy thought that we should split up. So Mano became the “victim” who had to travel with me. Waytha Moorthy travelled with Kenga while Gana had arrived earlier from his family home in Teluk Intan. We arrived early so that we could set up the computer, lap top and the giant screen and possibly one giant screen to be placed on the ground floor on the five foot way of the Restaurant downstairs if need be.

As we arrived there were two police patrol cars leading to the Ghandi Memorial Hall and another right opposite the hall. I gathered that this was the police tactic
to scare and deter people from attending the forum. As Hindraf supporters were putting up a banner outside the window facing the main road, a police special branch camera crew was recording the same. Two police special branch camera crew were also recording the whole forum from right inside the hall. We could have told them to leave the hall but we chose not to as we wanted them to carry the critical Indian problems highlighted in our speeches to the UMNO top leadership and with the view that these problems are attended to on an urgent basis.

The rather small hall was packed to the brim and people had to stand at the back of the hall and the sides and even outside the hall. It later turned out that this was our second smallest turnout with only about 500 people attending. But taking into consideration that Teluk Intan and its surrounding areas had about the highest concentration of Indian population in Malaysia, the crowd I thought was rather small. It crossed my mind that the leafletting may not have been satisfactorily done. We started on time, meaning what was put on print at 7. 00 p. m. but started at about 7. 30 p. m. which was supposed to have been on time by Malaysian standards. In all our future programmes we had hoped to maintain this half an hour starting time that is within 30 minutes of the scheduled time and not one hour to two hours late. Gana was supposed to be the first Speaker but he was feeling nervous as he was on his home ground, his hometown being Teluk Intan and needed to take a “deep breath” meaning getting his thoughts together properly before he spoke. This was Gana’s first public speech ever and also his first Hindraf speech. Gana asked to be the third speaker instead. As usual Mano chaired the forum and introduced himself and the panel of speakers. I was the first speaker and was followed by Genga, Gana and the last and star speaker as usual was Waytha Moorthy.

All our speeches at all our forums from the very beginning at all our nationwide forums was in Tamil. It was very clear in our minds that Malaysians who suffered the worst form of violations of human rights, most marginalised, most sidelined, most discriminated and the most underprivileged were the Tamil speaking Malaysian Indians. I was not much of a Tamil speaker at public forums and neither do I read and write Tamil. Although we spoke Tamil at home, the formal Tamil used in public speeches would be the refined “sentamil” which I was not conversant with. One must have studied in a Tamil school or studied Tamil which exposure none of us had except for Gana who had studied at a Tamil school in Teluk Intan.