ABSTRACT
Let me begin with a potted summary of Hindraf, a coalition of 30 non-governmental Hindu organizations, to provide background information on the movement and the consolidation of the notion of makkal sakthi or people’s power. On the morning of 25 November 2007, it was reported that a significant number of people had gathered in Kuala Lumpur at a rally organized by Hindraf to protest the unofficial state policy of Hindu temple demolition, the colonial wrong committed on the Indian community, and the encroachment of Shariah law (Islamic law) into the lives of the citizenry. The actual number of people who attended the rally is in debate: ABC News (2007) reported that 10,000 attended, while others such as USA Today (2007) approximated 5,000. Numbers aside, the protest marks a significant moment within postcolonial Malaysian democracy in that the country has enjoyed a relatively uninterrupted period of sound race relations. The last significant racebased politics or protest took place on 13 May 1969 when Sino-Malay race riots led to the declaration of a state of emergency and the suspension of Parliament until 1971, after which the state adopted an aggressive affirmative action policy under the New Economic Policy initiative. This is a policy that privileges the bumiputeras (‘princes of the soil’ or original inhabitants), the majority, dominant Malay community. In that sense, the organization of a rally, very much premised upon racial difference, in country that has suppressed the question of racial and cultural differences is significant insofar as it threatens the fabric of the nation. The gathering for the rally took place, ironically, near the Petronas Twin Towers, named after Malaysia’s National Oil Company, a visual symbol of Malaysia’s progress and development. The choice of the space of the Twin Towers and its reconstitution as the ground for protest reconfigures a significant public space, the marker of postcolonial progress and modernity, to highlight the lack of progress amongst the Indian and Hindu community and challenge that which the Towers stand for.
