CAN'T DENY THE RACE FACTOR

WHEN I saw the heading I thought it was the result of a demonstration turned truly ugly. The report doesn't say so but there are statements in it from the police saying that the 200-odd people refused to disperse despite being asked to do so a few times.

A few were later sent to hospital for minor injuries. In total 17 were arrested and then released on police bail.

The incident happened outside the Brickfields district police station when the group accompanied family members of ISA detainee P. Uthayakumar who wanted to lodge a report calling for proper medical treatment for him. In the group were Teluk Intan Member of Parliament M. Manogaran of the Dap and PKR's Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam, one of those arrested.

No one can deny the rights of the family to lodge a report but to have a crowd as big as that just for that purpose would most likely lead to other problems because it is never easy trying to contain the emotions of so many people. It is also understandable that the family would have some sympathisers but something so simple should be kept simple. In this respect the roles of elected representatives like Manogaran and Manikavasagam are crucial. They can either help to keep it within the family and just a small group of friends or they can instigate and make it into an issue that needs mob support for effect.

I don't know much about Manogaran but remember Manikavasagam from an issue affecting a settlement off Old Klang Road and then the A. Kugan case. From being one of the many politicians present at the University of Malaya Medical Centre mortuary to claim Kugan's body, he turned into a spokesman for the family that lived in another constituency. Nothing wrong with that but after what he had said on the first issue, there appeared a long letter on the Internet reminding him about where he comes from as an MP.

The main theme of the letter was to ask Manikavasagam to try and avoid speaking as if he represented only the Indians and therefore must take up only Indian-related issues. It gave details on the racial composition of Kapar, where a big majority of the voters are Malays and most of whom must have voted him into power, and of the fact that he is with PKR, a party that says it is multi-racial.

While what he does to try and support his race is commendable and should not be begrudged, others in his constituent may want him to be seen to be spending more time and effort looking after the Parliamentary constituency of Kapar, where I'm sure there are problems aplenty.

The rights and wrongs of the incident and the roles of the two aside, for me this further confirms the view that race still remains very much a factor in Malaysian politics. While politicians are amongst those who say that after 51 years of Merdeka it's time the country rids itself of race-based politics, ironically they are also the ones who help to reinforce race-based politics.