LETTER | It caught my attention when I read that the Rajnikanth movie thriller "Jailer" earned some RM10 million in five days.

Running for a 27-day marathon, the film entered the Malaysian Book of Record.

Based on the movie collection, I was wondering about the potential potency of Indians, which is always said to be a poor community that needs assistance.

They can spend RM10 million in five days, which is equivalent to the community’s capacity to raise RM10 million in five days.

I wonder about the innate capacity of the community to contribute to other Indians who are lesser off in terms of education, social, and economic aspects.

Will the Indian community come forward and generously contribute the amount of money for a just cause involving the community?

Will they hesitate to do so with the mindset that it is the government's problem and not the community?

Emulate

The Indian community must learn from the Chinese community when it comes to the spirit of philanthropy.

The thriving Chinese business community contributes generously to the community's education and social as well as other cultural well-being.

Though there are not many successful Indian businessmen or Indian business community to contribute generously as the Chinese community does, as a community, the "Jailer" is an eye-opener. It tells that they can come together as a community to help the lesser Indian community members.

The crab mentality and any other prejudicial attitude of the community need to be reformed and transformed to move forward to excel as "leaves of one tree and flowers of one garden".

The oneness of the Indian community is lacking, which is only a small subset of two million in the population of Malaysian society.

Piecemeal progress

When will they learn that they can rise as a phoenix from the ashes of defeat they have collectively perceived since independence?

The hope is dim if they remain disunited within due to creed, caste, clans, and many more of their prejudicial divisive tendencies, which they inherited from the past ancestral trajectory.

"Humanity may be likened unto varicoloured flowers of one garden. There is unity in diversity. Each sets off to enhance the other's beauty. The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend to make a perfect chord".

Until and unless the spirit of unity and oneness gets embedded among the Indians, the progress will be piecemeal in its trajectory for few selected Indians, not collectively, socially and economically.

We need not just political leaders to move the community forward but non-partisan, encompassing and inclusive leaders without tainted character.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.