Indian Muslims - Are They Indian Or Malay?
The Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) plans to set up excellence centres in all states in the country. Its national president, Syed Ibrahim Kader said the centres would serve as venues for education programmes, including tuition classes, for students as well as for other activities.
He said the move was to realise Kimma's aim of producing a graduate in each member's family. He claimed that Kimma, a political party, represented about 600,000 Indian Muslims in the country.
On the fifth Negeri Sembilan Indian Muslim Quran Reading Assembly, which ended last night, he said response to it had been encouraging, having had attracted more than 1,000 participants.
While it is open knowledge that the Indian community as a whole is becoming increasingly marginalized, there is an integral part of that community, the Indian Muslims, or at least that part of it which has tried to extricate themselves from the 'Indian' tag, the members of Kimma, who are the most alienated of the lot. Ironically this alienation and total absence of any political standing or power is largely self-imposed.
According to them the MIC does not represent them adequately because they are Muslims. They have therefore attempted to strike out on their own, hoping that the 'Muslim' tag may help in their eventual acceptance by Umno. That unfortunately has not transpired and they are at present looking like a marooned lot with neither side (MIC and Umno) too keen to accept them. They could of course swallow their pride and apply for admission into the MIC, but that would involve severe loss of face and moreover all their efforts thus far in trying to legitimize themselves as a separate entity would be negated.
Therefore it looks like Kimma is destined for a long spell in the doldrums.
He said the move was to realise Kimma's aim of producing a graduate in each member's family. He claimed that Kimma, a political party, represented about 600,000 Indian Muslims in the country.
On the fifth Negeri Sembilan Indian Muslim Quran Reading Assembly, which ended last night, he said response to it had been encouraging, having had attracted more than 1,000 participants.
While it is open knowledge that the Indian community as a whole is becoming increasingly marginalized, there is an integral part of that community, the Indian Muslims, or at least that part of it which has tried to extricate themselves from the 'Indian' tag, the members of Kimma, who are the most alienated of the lot. Ironically this alienation and total absence of any political standing or power is largely self-imposed.
According to them the MIC does not represent them adequately because they are Muslims. They have therefore attempted to strike out on their own, hoping that the 'Muslim' tag may help in their eventual acceptance by Umno. That unfortunately has not transpired and they are at present looking like a marooned lot with neither side (MIC and Umno) too keen to accept them. They could of course swallow their pride and apply for admission into the MIC, but that would involve severe loss of face and moreover all their efforts thus far in trying to legitimize themselves as a separate entity would be negated.
Therefore it looks like Kimma is destined for a long spell in the doldrums.
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/17/2006 01:18:00 PM
4 Comments:
You are a Malaysian first, then you are Malaysian of Chinese desent, Malaysian of Indian desent or Malaysian of Indonesian desent.Only the various Orang Asli of Peninsula Malaya and the indegenious peoples of Sabah and Sarawak are the original natives of this country!
Remember, you are a Malaysian of Indian desent and not an Indian Muslim of Malaysian desent.
Ethnicity takes precedence over religion in MIC,MCA and in UMNO.Don't isolate yourselves but be a part of this country. Your priority should be the well being of Malaysia and not India.
Well said shanghaistephen. If country comes above all else, then contentious issues such as this will not rise. BTW I find your comments on this blog very intuitive and well considered. Thanks and please do continue.
What a shame !
Indians wanting to be Malay just because of the so-called bumiputra status.
I bet if India were to rule Malaysia , most of these people will want to be recognised as Indians and may be quickly jump ship to be Hindus again !
Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
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