Why the need for Anwar to meet up with Indian movie superstars?
I don’t understand why PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has a penchant for meeting up with Indian film stars.
I am not sure whether such meetings have any impact on getting the support of the Indian community. I am not against Anwar meeting up or having dinners with Kamal Hassan or even Rajnikanth.
In fact he should meet them to ascertain whether they are doing something for the benefit of the Indian community here.
These actors are here not for any altruistic reasons, they are here to promote or launch their latest movies. It goes without saying that these movies will be an instant success amongst members of the Indian community.
Hundreds of millions of their hard earned money will be spent in viewing these popular movies. These movies will be an instant entertainment success.
Over the years, I have not heard about whether these superstars have contributed their earnings to the benefit of the poor and marginalised Indian community.
In fact what has been done is to siphon the meagre earnings of the Indian community. Both Kamal and Rajni are failed politicians in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Despite their popularity in the cinema world they have been unable to translate this success in the political realm.
Their ideas of what are needed for Tamils falls short of the expectations of the rank and file of 60 million Tamils in the state.
In short, whatever forms of politics advocated by these actors have not been able to make an impact on the hegemony of Dravidian political parties. It is not that these parties have done much, but their political model predicated on anti-Brahminism is unassailable.
Anwar is basically a populist politician. He thinks by associating or meeting up with these superstars, he might endear himself to the Indian community. Indians might be poor and in need of assistance, but they are no fools. Of course, there might be segments in the community who might want suck up to these superstars, but the majority of the community are not naive.
The Indian community looks at Anwar to ensure the community is assured of their rights as Malaysians, free from discrimination and marginalisation.
This is not asking too much from politicians like Anwar who have promised benefits for the community.
I am not sure what the meeting with Kamal was about. Apart from the latter’s money making venture in the release of his new movie, was there discussion about the sad fate of the Indian community.
Did Anwar ask Kamal to contribute from the financial success for the Indian community? Or the meeting was about rubbing shoulders with prominent actors and failed politicians.
P Ramasamy is the deputy chief minister II of Penang
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Leaders Online
