WHEN Pakatan Harapan took over the administration of our country at the federal level and in many states, those of us who voted for it expected some policy shifts towards a Malaysia where issues and solutions would not be seen from racial lines but purely as Malaysian. This policy shift would eliminate the need for a leader from a particular ethnic community to listen to and solve the problems faced by Malaysians of his/her race.
For more than 60 years, Malaysian Indians had brought their problems to the Malaysian Indian Congress. Being in the minority, they, especially those in the rural and less privileged areas, almost always relied on this channel. I think the divide and rule policy practised by the previous government is the root cause of the neglect of the under-privileged Indians in this country. Civil servants needed evidence of such patronage before they acted on applications and queries from the less privileged in the Malaysian Indian community.