Opportunity missed to uplift Tamils
THE use of the inverted pyramid model for economic empowerment sees the masses investing small amounts in a venture, which will make it profitable enough to continue growing on its own.
The masses generally belong to the lower income group.
They would not have been born with a silver spoon in the mouth. They are not tycoons, who inherited wealth or amassed fortunes through political patronage.
They are common people who hold 8am to 5pm jobs that require dedication, sweat and loyalty and take home a monthly pay packet to put food on the table.
Where were the representatives of the masses at the World Tamil Economic Conference, which was held in Durban last week?
Where was the voice of Thangavelu Govender, who worked 40 years as a hotel waiter? Or bus driver Kisten Pillay?
Who was present at the Durban ICC on behalf of market gardener Subamma Naicker, who had longed to escape poverty but died under the yoke of financial burden?
The conference promised “to create close co-operation and partnership for economic development”.
It stated as its main aim to bring “all Tamils spread throughout the world under a single platform so that they can provide support and guidance to each other and utilise the immense wealth and human potential that is yet to be tapped”.
Conspicuously, the local Tamil population had sparse representation. The individual delegate fee of R2 000 would have dissuaded those who desired real empowerment from attending.
The only local delegates, who in total could be counted on one’s fingers and toes, were the super rich and well-connected.
Sadly, a great opportunity to create wealth at grassroots level was lost.
The conference was after all mostly a talk-shop for the rich to network and cut deals – and become even richer.
Ironically, the conference kicked off on the 157th anniversary of the arrival of indentured Indians in South Africa, the majority of whom were of Tamil-speaking origin.
Many arrived with only the clothes they were wearing. One-and-half centuries later, the majority of Indians continue to experience the pain of a lifetime of debt.
If there was only one single empowerment example, which the conference should have embraced to uplift the majority who crave financial freedom, it is the mandate entrusted to Malaysia’s National Land Finance Co-operative Society Limited (NLFCS).
Between conference sessions, I was fortunate to catch some time with Dato Baliah Sahadivanaidu, who has been managing director of NLFCS since 1995.
I was amazed by the story behind the co-operative society. (Dato is a honoriic title conferred by the ruler of a Malaysian state on the most deserving recipients who have contributed greatly to public welfare.)
Dato Sahadivanaidu related the plight of the early Indians in Malaysia.
Similar to how Indians were taken from India to slave on the sugar cane plantations, coal mines and railways in South Africa, Indians were shipped to Malaysia, mostly from South India, to slog on the rubber plantations.
The Indians in Malaysia were the most marginalised of workers. They resided in closed plantation societies in frontier zones and the plantation symbolised the boundary of their existence.
The isolation of plantations and colonial vagrancy laws also prevented them from leaving the plantation.
In any case, the Indian workers’ low caste backgrounds and inability to speak either Malay or English intensified their isolation and vulnerability.
They were trapped in an unending cycle of dependency and poverty on the plantation.
The provision of housing and other amenities by plantation owners had a built-in mechanism for social control.
Labourers living in estate housing were not charged rent. Consequently if they were dismissed, they faced eviction.
The plantation labour system also worked against the integration of Indian workers into society at large and perpetuated racial and occupational differentiation.
They were unable to acquire skills that would facilitate their move to better-paying jobs elsewhere.
The Indian plantation workers were thus effectively tied to the estates and the low-wage structure inherent in the plantation system.
Dato Sahadivanaidu recalled that when Britain relinquished control of Malaysia in the late 1950s, British plantation owners sold off the estates.
This situation was capitalised on by Chinese businessmen, who bought and further divided the land into smaller units to obtain larger profits.
Fragmentation of rubber plantations led to thousands of Indian labourers losing their jobs. Those who chose to stay on the estates had to settle for lower wages, and were denied health and other facilities.
He credited Tun Veerasamy Thirunyana Sambanthan, the head of the Malaysian Indian Congress, with the vision to establish the NLFCS to provide an opportunity for land ownership among Indian estate workers. (Tun is an even higher title than Dato.)
“When the estate fragmentation was at its height in the 1960s, the NLFCS was formed as a means to buy the fragmented estates to alleviate the pain and suffering of thousands of workers who lost their livelihood and dwelling places.
“Tun Sambanthan persuaded plantation workers to buy shares in the co-operative at 100 Malaysian ringgits per share (R300), payable in monthly instalments of RM10 (R30).
“With this, the society managed to purchase its first rubber estate covering a total of 1 200 hectares.
“From this humble beginning, today the NLFCS owns rubber, palm oil and coconut plantations all over the country. The NLFCS presently has 19 estates totalling 14 000 hectares. It also controls nine subsidiaries along with two associate companies.
“The society has implemented numerous benefit schemes for its members such as to improve the education level of members’ children, increasing home ownership of members; promoting small scale entrepreneurs; and providing financial aid to members,” Dato Sahadivanaidu said.
He added that when the NLFCS realised it cannot solely depend on owning and operating plantations, which are subject to fluctuating commodity prices, it moved on to strengthen its base by diversifying into property development; manufacturing; establishing and operating educational institutes; trading and retail business for both domestic and export markets and health and medical services.
With a current membership of about 100 000, the NLFCS has a capital accumulation of RM 1 billion (R3bn) making it one of the largest co-operatives in Malaysia.
“The founding aim of the NLFCS was to mobilise the savings of ordinary workers and invest them in profitable business ventures.
“Our continued mission is to upgrade the socio-economic status of members according to co-operative principles.”
Dato Sahadivanaidu said the economic strength of the small man must not be underestimated. This reminds me of the phrase “mighty oaks from little acorns grow”.
Perhaps our Logie Naidoo, local co-ordinator of the justended World Tamil Economic Conference, will take a leaf out of the NLFCS’s book and ensure the common man also has a place around the next conference table.