The report Why many Indian Malaysians are backward refers.

It has been told many times, the backwardness of the Indian community is not in its mindset or because government policies are not properly implemented.

The Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS) which purports to represent the community should stop deluding itself into thinking that by addressing problems associated with the way Indians think and that by asking the government to be sincere, they can bring about far-reaching changes.

If the YSS is sincere, it should highlight the discriminatory policies of the government and how these have marginalised the community that has contributed much to the development of the country.

The overt pro-Malay policies of the government, the discrimination of Indians in the public sector, the denial of licences and contracts to Indians, the low wages in the plantations and the urban sector's social and cultural alienation of Indians from the mainstream have all made Indians third-class citizens of the country.

The mindset and low self-esteem of Indians are not independent variables, but are the product of state policies and measures that have reduced Indians to their miserable situation in the country.

The YSS and other organisations might be sincere in rescuing the Indian community from its present doldrums, but then sincerity alone is not enough. Intellectual courage and proper analysis are called for to ascertain the historical, structural, political and ideological factors that have impeded the development of the community for the last four decades.

I am afraid that the YSS, as the so-called research arm of the MIC, might be structurally and political incapable of undertaking a task that might end up challenging the present government.

I don't think a proper solution can be found for promoting the progressive development of the Indian community within the present ambit of the Barisan Nasional's representation.

It has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the MIC cannot represent and articulate the true aspirations of the community. It is merely a pathetic appendage to the present ruling coalition.

Indian representation and progress must be re-thought and re-worked from a higher intellectual plane - an approach that might lead one to experiment with the a new paradigmatic shift that would challenge ethnicity as the basis of governance of modern societies.