YOURSAY ‘It's time for Pakatan to make an alliance with them and bring change to this country. Only Hindraf could deliver the Indian votes to Pakatan.'

Hindraf to unveil Indian poor five-year blueprint

Amused Malaysian: Stay brave, Hindraf. Press for lifting of the ban on your organisation and also the granting of citizenships to the 350,000 stateless Malaysians.

If you can achieve the latter, you truly would have done something for the Indians. I remember MIC highjacking the project some months ago, but nothing further seemed to have happened since the big announcement and photo opportunities.

Magnus: I'm pleased to see P Waythamoorthy back with his family in Malaysia and leading Hindraf ably once again. I can see he is a respected Malaysian leader who has real political clout and that is why he is now being courted by top representatives in both Pakatan Rakyat and BN.

Hindraf obviously has to negotiate wisely if they are to work together with the authorities to deliver solutions that help alleviate the plight of the underprivileged and marginalised Malaysians whom they champion.

But Hindraf should not forget to keep on getting the message across that the ethnic background of the marginalised Malaysian is totally irrelevant to them.

I know this may look hard but it's only as hard as it's been for the DAP, which has been saying all along they were/are a "Malaysian" party and not a "non-Malay" party as implied by both Umno and MCA.

This remit of wider inclusiveness does not digress in any way from the needs and equal opportunity-based logic of Hindraf's initial raison d'etre.

Retnam: There is no such thing as "solving the Indian problem once and for all".

At best, slow and steady improvement can be achieved if there is a clear vision of what exactly is the problem and what exactly needs to be done to solve the problem, and what exactly is the final outcome which is expected to constitute a "solution".

Hindraf never had this clear vision till now. Wait for Nov 25 to see whether a clearer picture has been drawn.

Vijay47: Please, Hindraf, no more blueprints, plans, or proposals. For as long as we can remember, we Indians have been having so many plans that they are pouring out of our ears, and we could even write volumes on the ‘Study on Studies of Indian Problems'.

Be it Pakatan or BN, this time demand action and it must be immediate action - no more promises and pledges and agreements.

Sure, some of these cannot be achieved overnight but after 50 years of deceit, there must be a start and that time is now.

Malaysian For Justice: Think of all the deceit the Indians have suffered over the last 55 years. There is no guarantee that PM Najib Abdul Razak and Umno are not thinking of even more deceit.

If Umno continues with their ‘Ketuanan' mindset, it will show in how they respond to this request. The Ketuanan mindset is to deceive and manipulate to achieve objectives not by responsible and moral approaches. So, this is a test for what is to come.

RA 1: Hindraf estimates there are 350,000 stateless Indians in the country. The Tamil population in Malaysia is 1,743,922, Thus 20 percent of Tamils are stateless. Wow, Hindraf must be nuts.

Anticommunalist: RA1, to have that kind of reasoning, perhaps only 20 percent of your thinking power is actually working.

Paul Satianeesan: Since Waythamoorthy's return, Hindraf is back on track. The people are again talking about Hindraf. It's time for Pakatan to make an alliance with them and bring change to this country. Only Hindraf could deliver the Indian votes to Pakatan.

Ck Albert: It is a known fact that Indian voters are crucial in the richest state of Selangor followed by Perak, Penang and Kedah. Selangor and Kedah might fall if Pakatan loses the Indian support.

MIC has been working on the quiet whilst Pakatan is dreaming it has the Indian voters as its fixed deposit. So it's up to Pakatan leadership whether it would choose to be ignorant or engage Hindraf.

Bootsie: Let the prime minister (from PKR) in waiting solve the Indian problem once and for all. Never, never trust anybody else to do it because some 55 years later, it has come to naught.

Baiyuensheng: Don't forget those brave ones in Suqiu in 1999 who produced their 17-point memorandum, which, among other things, called for promotion of national unity, advancing democracy, upholding human rights and justice, curbing corruption, having a fair and equitable economic policy and restoring confidence in the police force.

And they were threatened with violence. So, to Hindraf, don't think you are way above all as there were brave ones way back in 1999.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Before one can talk about equality and equal rights there must be a level-playing field in both the public and private sector. This is where an Equal Opportunities Act would be welcome.

Economic activity must not be defined by race but rather by ability, experience and integrity. There is nothing wrong in ethnic groups articulating for their rights in the context of their socio-economic position within the country. It is part of the grievance process and it is for the system to decide on the appropriate response.

But to simply brand all of them as racist, stupid, unrealistic and unfair is not right in any political discourse. Of course, their demands must be reasonable and practicable.

To denigrate and condemn them for making such demands is unjustified. While we all want to walk away from racial quotas and sentiments, the question remains whether we are all willing to compromise and make sacrifices with regard to our ethnic identities and perceptions.

To date, that remains unclear.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .