Most Indian Malaysians seem to be fascinated by the emergence of Hindraf and are generally supportive of this informal group as it has been modelled on the heroism that has been depicted in many Tamil films. Even the slogan of Makkal Sakthi has been lifted from these films.

That the 'people's power' should apply to the whole Malaysian population and not only the 'Hindus' - Tamils or Indians - in the country is conveniently forgotten by many of the sympathisers and supporters.

There is no denying that the majority of the Indian Malaysians face many problems and some of these problems need serious official intervention by the government. And the Indian Malaysian representation in the government has been complacent, and has taken the Indian Malaysian community for granted due to easy access to parliament with the support of the dominant partner in the ruling coalition.

But the fact remains that the Indian Malaysian community is a minority community in the country although some Hindraf leaders have been going round claiming that it is the third largest majority in the country and therefore deserves more from the government.

Such a claim is good to whip up emotions but it is rather absurd when we look at the fact that there is not a single constituency both at the parliament level or at the state level where the electoral majority is from this community.

The fact that the majority bumiputera community controls more than two-thirds of the parliamentary constituencies, and that the decision-makers in the entire civil, legal and law enforcement services are from the majority community seems to have been forgotten.

Any confrontational stance taken on behalf of the minority Indian Malaysian community will almost certainly elicit equally confrontational reactions from the majority bumiputera community.

The Chinese Malaysian community has been able to address many of its problems in a more amiable manner, and they are able to safeguard their economic and social positions. It is not that they are fully satisfied.

The Indian Malaysian community needs responsible leadership that takes into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the community, and that which makes sure that the community is not led in the wrong direction. Blaming the government for everything and whipping up the emotions of the community is not a responsible leadership.

Any alternative Indian Malaysian leadership for the MIC has to take heed of the latent weaknesses within the community and threats from outside the community. If we look at the grievances, the Hindu temples issue is largely due to ignorance while both the MIC as well as the Hindu Sangam have not been able to make sure that these places of worship have been duly registered, have legitimate committees or boards and are situated on land legally owned by the boards.

Just because the former estate owners allowed their workers to build these temples anywhere they chose, doesn’t mean such practices can go on forever. And, if lawyers are taking over the leadership of the community, they should be able to advise the community and fill in the blanks left by the MIC and Hindu Sangam as they should be well-versed in the administrative law of the country.

The underprivileged Indian Malaysian community needs responsible leadership at the grassroots to ensure the community rids itself of the many ills that are suffocating it. Many of the young Indian children are not doing well in schools; they have very poor peer influences that pull them in the wrong directions. When they are not well-educated and are not skilled, they face problems of unemployment.

But they are not willing to work as hard as the migrant labour who are preferred by employers. How to change this attitude? The community's responsible leadership has to take charge of this and it is of no use barking at the government over such problems. It is of no use having state and national level leaders if there isn't any responsible leadership at the grassroots. Only grassroots leaders can bring about change.

Tamil schools are another emotive issue. But very few of these schools have their own boards that are able to handle all the affairs of the schools. Often times, the headmaster is the most influential person, backed by a political party and the Parent-Teacher Association. When the next headmaster comes in, he charts a different path from that of his predecessor, and the story continues.

No wonder most of these schools do not have a 'hall of fame' that recognises past principals, their achievements and prominent former pupils. The mentality of the headmaster is as if he is in charge of a government school where everything is provided by the government. Actually, his role is to get the community's support through a board that takes charge of the needs of the school.

Despite a lot of announcements, the local communities are not taking responsibility for the well-being of the Tamil schools except for squabbling over trivial issues.

Even as there are requests for Tamil schools to be relocated to new residential areas, we have not heard of the Tamil community in the said residential areas setting up committees to do the needful. If proactive groups like Hindraf had taken such steps at the grassroots levels, and brought about an awareness within the community, more than half of the problems faced by the community could have been overcome.

This awareness itself will open the eyes of the others, and the community will be able to show its positive potential in many avenues. But this will be a silent revolution and this process will take some time indeed. And it needs a leadership with a vision. Not many are keen to give such a leadership to this community.

Instant leadership riding on the emotions created by the Hindu temples issue and aided by the frustrations of the community towards the extreme cronyism in MIC is not the answer for the woes of the community.

All Indian Malaysian leaders, whether they are in the political parties or in any other organisations or groups, need to embark on a campaign to rid the community of the many ills within the community first. It can't progress due to these ills.

This community must win the respect of the other communities through its knowledge, skills, rational behaviour and positive attitude. We should not expect the government to do this for us; it can only help us if we do our part.