MALAYSIA The nightmare of Indian IT professionals.

by C. S. Kuppuswamy
17. 03. 2003

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers7/paper633.html
The Incident
The treatment meted out to 270 Indian IT professionals by the Malaysian police at Kuala
Lumpur on Sunday the 9th March, 2003 has been widely covered by the Indian media. The
Malaysian police is renowned for its high-handedness and excesses especially against the
Malaysian citizens of Indian origin. Now they have displayed the same attitude towards the
Indian professionals as well. For a change the Indian Government and the High Commission of
India at Kuala Lumpur have reacted sharply but disappointingly the Indian business community
has stalled the response because of its own interests.
The Facts
Under the garb for search of illegal immigrants, the Malaysian police carried out a raid on a
high-rise apartment in Brickfields, an area predominantly occupied by the Malaysian citizens of
Indian origin. They rounded up 270 including many IT professionals and allegedly defaced their
passports, slapped and kicked several of them. They were lined up and paraded for all public to
see their humiliation. Some reports indicate that they were hand cuffed and detained for at least
eight hours. All of them had valid visas and some were working for companies connected with
the Malaysian multi media super corridor project. “This has been a black day for all of us”said
Veena Sikri, the High Commissioner for India in Kuala Lumpur. The police had initially denied
to the Indian officials access to the detainees but relented later.
The Reactions
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had called the Malaysian High Commissioner in Delhi
and expressed its resentment over the issue and called or an immediate probe. The MEA
rubbished all claims of Malaysia that the detentions were part of a drive against illegal
immigrants as these were IT professionals (skilled workers) and the drive was focused on the
segment of unskilled workers. After glossing over the issue for over 3 days the Kuala Lumpur
city police chief ordered an investigation while maintaining that the initial investigations proved
that there were no wrong doings.
The Malaysian Police
To cite an example of the excesses of the Malaysian police, the former Deputy Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim (now under arrest) was roughed up by the police while in custody. When the
former Deputy PM appeared in court with a black eye, the then police chief openly admitted of
police involvement in the injury.
The Malaysian Prejudice
Dr. Harsh Verma writes in an article to the NRI World News Service – “ the Malay majority
police force interacts periodically with the poor Tamil/Indian youth with violence and
bloodshed. How can prejudice not be formed?” The Malaysian media is also highly prejudiced
against the Indians and even minor incidents involving them are blown out of proportions. Dr. P.
Ramasamy of Kebangsan University, Malaysia writes that a series of incidents in the country
have revealed the vulnerability of the Indian community. There is a growing tendency to view
Indians as a problematic community afflicted with all kinds of political, social and economic ills.
Racial ideology and practices of racism have made it impossible for the (poor) Indians to lead
decent lives in the country. For more on the plight of the Malaysian Indians please refer to Paper
No. 618 "Malaysian Indians: The third class race" by this author.
The Response
The following responses of the Indian Government in this regard are appropriate.
* The High Commissioner of India indicated that India has “little choice” but to
issue a travel advisory to its citizens planning to visit Malaysia.
* Foreign Regional Registration offices (FRROs) including the one in
Bangalore have been ordered to check the credentials of Malaysian nationals
registered here. There are over 400 Malaysians registered in Bangalore to pursue
their studies in medicine.
* The government of India indicated that it will reexamine the extension of
landing facility to Malaysian Airlines at Kolkata and the seat sharing arrangement
with Air-India. The Civil Aviation Secretary, K.Roy Paul has been asked to
review the obligations of both parties in the civil aviation bilateral treaty with
Malaysia.
* Malaysian Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohamded Nazri Abdul Aziz
who was on a visit to India had talks with Ministers Arun Jetly and Kashiram
Rana on 11 march 2003. The talks were confined to the harassment of the Indian
IT professionals instead of the proposed agenda.
* The Government of India expressed inability to host Malaysian Health Minister
Chua Jui Meng towards the end of March 2003 on the grounds that the proposed
dates were inconvenient. He was to meet his counterpart Sushama Swaraj and
hold talks with her and other leaders.
* The Government has given indications that it will reexamine some of the
bilateral agreements which are loaded in Malaysia’s favour and other trade related
concessions extended to Malaysia.
India has to set its house in order
There is one lesson for India too. It is no secret that many Indians do overstay illegally in some
South East Asian countries and some make South-East Asia or Central Asia as a jumping point to
migrate West. We have often seen that the immigration authorities are generally careless and
even corrupt and make no effort to stop the illegals from leaving. We need therefore to set our
house in order, as countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have experienced this
problem.
Conclusion
India has a large number of joint ventures in Malaysia which include the Bharat Heavy
Electricals ltd, India Railway Construction Corporation, Indian oil, ONGC etc. The experience
of some of these ventures, in the past, have also not been very pleasant. Malaysia’s arrogance
because of its economic strength is often directed towards India because of its “soft state”
attitude, while it is very careful in its trade with the Western nations despite the “America
bashing” by its top leadership. The leadership of the Malaysian Indian Congress which is
pampered by the Government of India, has very little political clout in the country to look after
the interests of India. The Malaysians of Indian origin face the brunt of the racist policies in that
country and the Malaysian leadership has perhaps displayed the same attitude towards India in its
trade dealings as well. The probe ordered may be a mere perfunctory job if not an eye wash.
This is the second incident in which IT professionals have been targeted abroad with the Polaris
top brass being detained recently in Indonesia. The present incident must be an eye-opener for
the Government of India to be more prudent in its trade dealings with Malaysia without bending
over its back for the sake of pleasing the business community which is forcing the Government
of India to relent on these matter