Schedule III

The UMNO/ PKR, DAP & PAS Mandorism System The Mandorism System

A system to subjugate the Indian poor in Malaysia!

Mandorism comes from the root Malaysian Tamil word “Mandores”

A Mandore ?

Historically, a Mandore was a supervisor in the rubber estates, whose role was to ensure the estate bosses got their work done by the Indian rubber tapper – the daily paid wage workers. Besides just supervising to get the job done these Mandores also had the role of goading the workers on, on unpopular policies. They resorted to manipulation, force and deceit, in many cases to do this. Then, when dissatisfaction brewed and the workers began to speak out they also played the role of the spy for the master – telling on trouble makers. In many of these situations they connived with their masters because of their understanding of the nuances of the tappers lives and communities. The master for his part always remained in the background. He used many ruthless schemes to maximize his personal gains from the background. He skillfully used his Mandore to be his fall guy. In return for the fronting he did for the master, these Mandores enjoyed a few more perks in life. The master gave a very small portion of truly what should all have gone to the tappers, to the Mandores and set off with the rest. Those tidbits gave the Mandores a status that they strutted while the master got the large chunk of the value that was created by the tappers. The master got off with the loot. The Mandores got a few crumbs and was always humming and hawing for more. The tappers got the short end of the stick.

That was the process of yore, devised by the plantation owners of those days to ensure they got the maximum possible yields. They allowed only enough to
be paid to the tapper and his families’ subsistence , some toddy and maybe a little for his festivals, but not more. Then the white masters left and the brown and yellow “tuans” took over in the 1960s. This system remained and evolved.

What started as a system for maximizing the profits in the plantations became in time a system for subjugating the Indian poor to maximize the returns for the “tuans” in the economy as a whole wherever the Indian worker was involved. The “tuans” influence now extended to all aspects of the economy and politics. Mandores become Mandorism.