India should tell Islamist Malaysia to respect hindu human rights

India should tell Islamist Malaysia to respect hindu human rights

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/249972.html

Walking the Malaysian tightrope
Rajendra Abhyankar
Posted online: Friday, December 14, 2007

As it nudges Malaysia towards a solution to the current crisis, India
must balance the need to maintain bilateral relations and address the
interests of the Tamil community


Tamils of Indian origin face problems in countries like Fiji, Sri
Lanka, even Burma. But it is amazing that it is happening in a
successful democracy in a Muslim majority setting like Malaysia, which
with Turkey, is a leading light in the Islamic world. And even more,
that it is happening in a major ASEAN country, given that
organisation's strong words to Myanmar on the recent pro-democracy
demonstrations.

When the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit came to Asia
for the first time — to Kuala Lumpur — in 2003, under Mahathir's
leadership, we thought that the grouping would finally acquire a new
energy to mitigate the targeting of the community after 9/11. We had
hoped that OIC resolutions would recognise the inclusive democratic
society that India had nurtured as home to the world's second largest
Muslim community. Our hopes were belied and we saw the same old
criticism of India. It is therefore surprising to hear the Malaysian
leadership take umbrage at the concern expressed by PM Manmohan Singh
over the plight of the Indian-origin people in that country.

The issue needs to be seen in the context of inter-communal relations
in that country. The sudden eruption of the HINDRAF (Hindu Rights
Action Force) agitation has outed the discrimination the Tamil
community has historically felt but hitherto articulated only sotto
voce. The Malaysian government has tried to tone down the
dissatisfaction of the Indian-origin Tamils by co-opting a part of the
community's leadership within the government. It was these leaders who
were welcomed in India, and who have been used by the Malaysian
government to canvass for lucrative infrastructure contracts and
solicit better conditions for Malaysian Airlines (MAS) in India's
recent economic boom. The Indian government was not averse to this as
it was believed that strengthening Indian origin leadership in
Malaysia would leverage the community in Malaysia's political matrix.
The HINDRAF demonstration shows that the co-opted Indian leadership
has failed to meet the aspirations of its rank and file.

If there is one thing that has defined the parameters of
India-Malaysia relations, it is palm oil. Until recently our heavy
dependence on this product has made us wary of taking hard positions
vis-à-vis Malaysia. This has to some extent been mitigated by new
sources of palm oil on the market and the recent exposure of Malaysian
companies in India in road and port contracts amounting to over $3
billion, and the tremendous revenue that MAS gets from its flights to
India.

While we do possess a degree of leverage vis-à-vis the Malaysian
government, it is moot whether using it will lead to a satisfactory
result. Notwithstanding our navy's growing reach, we do not possess
any hard power to intervene in the situation relating to the Tamils of
Indian origin. In the final analysis, they have to work out the
solution internally. Yet we do have some chips to provoke a softer
response from the Malaysian government so that the current situation
does not worsen.

Are we ready to use them and go beyond the expression of concern?
Remember, our expression of concern at the burning of the Jaffna
Public Library in 1983 was the origin of India's involvement in the
ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

The fact that the leader of HINDRAF did not get a hearing in New Delhi
is a pointer. The mere expression of concern without backing it with
substantive discussions could do harm both to our bilateral relations
and the interest of the Tamil community. That cannot be our goal.

The writer, a former Indian diplomat, is chairman, Kunzru Centre for
Defence Studies and Research, Pune abhyankar@hotmail.com