Jagat and Malaysia’s tragic orphans

Carl Vadivella Belle’s book, Tragic Orphans, quoted the activist, KA Neelakanda Ayer on the plight of Malaysian Indians, "Tragic orphans – of whom India has forgotten and Malaya looks down with contempt".

The reader may argue that Malaysian Indians make up a huge percentage of the Malaysian middle class, and own many thriving businesses and are professionals in their own right.

The successful Indian is a welcome guest at the many soirees the city holds, and young, educated Malaysian Indians are very much part of the hipster scene that Malaysians hold dear.

But they are a minority among the two million of them, who make up 7% of the country’s population. Even more hidden now, with the influx of foreign workers who are part of the social fabric, Malaysian Indians, especially Tamils, are near invisible.

Jagat, the debut film by Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, is about the never ending cycle of poverty and hopelessness. It does not promise nor offer the viewer hope, but rather demonstrates the starkness of the lives of working class Indians in Malaysia.

I’m not going to write a film review, heaven forbid what would be churned out, but I will share what a friend, Rajen Ramasamy, wrote about the film.

"What you get is an honest, disturbing look at how members of a minority race spiral into self destruction due to abject poverty and loss of self-worth.

"Maniam, the hardworking and well-meaning father of Appoi, the central character which the movie picks its POV, laments on how the Indians have been relegated to the streets, having had their estates/property all disposed by their families for quick gains.

"He sees education as the only way out of this abyss but is clueless on how to go about providing his child a solid education. He only knows how to scold and shout at the boy to study while the family watches Rajnikanth movies in the background – escapism for the family and the building blocks of an unreal, unattainable future for Appoi.

"Poverty and lack of economic opportunities drive the men to find ways to survive... Alcoholism and cigarette smoking are powerful elements in Jagat that serve both as medium and metaphor for the ruin that awaits the community and individual characters.

"From the early scene of a devotee drinking to get into trance at a religious festival to the sealing of deals and celebrating gangsterhood over bottles of beer brings to light the vice-like grip of alcohol.

"Despite his valiant attempts to resist it, even Maniam ends up chugging a whole bottle when he recognises his world crumbling around him. Appoi gets a beating from Maniam for simply holding a cigarette but later, the same stick turns into a dastardly wand that tempts the boy into a life of crime."

As Rajen surmised, Jagat is not only about Malaysian Indians: substitute Appoi (the lead child character) with a young Malay, Chinese, Bidayuh, and the story will still be the same.

However, for today’s discussion, let’s go back to the fact that Malaysian Indians are not just marginalised, but invisible.

They are evident when we see them as the perennial doctor/lawyer/minum kaki in our lives, but we Malaysians are quick to blank them out.

When it comes to food, the Indians win hands down we say – what would we do without our thosai and roti?

Politically, it’s always about the Malays or the Chinese. Like with the Orang Asal of Malaysia, Indian issues make a squeak when there’s some drama happening within MIC, for example.

We are ignorant or refuse to realise that each ethnic group in Malaysia was racialized by our colonial masters. We recognise that their entry into our country was through trade and as labourers, but we forget that most (the Indians, Chinese et al) came by way of the British, who reaped the country’s wealth of natural resources. Maybe we don’t realise this even now, because we have so many problems, but we are very similar in our beginnings.

The Indian dilemma is ours, as well as the others. It would be a crime to whiten them (pun very much intended) out of our history.

And sadly, Jagat may not be shown on local screens by the time you read this.

Tragic orphans indeed. – December 25, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.