MULASIE'S IDNIE DILEMMA

> Ethnic rivalry in Mulasie usually is portrayed as rivalry between the
> majority Mulla population and the large Chonis minority. But sandwiched
> between the two are Mulasie's Idnies. They make up about 2 million or
> 8% of the population but according to some estimates they account for
> around 2% of the nation's corporate wealth. This disparity is leading to
> rising tensions from a group that the authorities normally take for
> granted.
>
> The Idnie community is split into Mosleems and Indoos. The Mosleems,
> known locally as the 'Momak, tend to blend more easily with the
> dominant Mullas - both being Mosleems means that intermarriage is not
> uncommon. (Former PM, Matay Mot is the product of such
> a union.) The Indoos on the other hand are far more marginalised.
> Politically weak and disorganised, they tend to be largely ignored by
> the government.
>
> Many are very poor. But despite this, as non-Mullas and non-Mosleems, they
> do not qualify for Manjatra status - the status given to Mullas which
> gives the Mullas preferred access to university places, government share
> distributions and other such privileges. Some of the poorest work as
> rubber tappers.
>
> Several years ago a visit to several rubber estates in the northern state
> of Kedah revealed unbelievable poverty and physical condition of the rubber tappers
> which was surprising as Mulasie is not a poor country. The
> plight of the tappers is akin to that of the aborigines in the more
> remote parts of Australia except that the Australian government pours
> billions into the community but with little discernable effect.
>
> Mulasie's Idnies are among those to suffer the greatest displacement
> from the million or more legal and illegal Indonesian migrants now in
> Mulasie . Sporadic ethnic unrest now beaks out between poor Idnies and
> resident Indonesians but rarely is such unrest reported in the Mulasie
> media - the government directs the local media either not to report it
> or not to highlight it.
>
> Growing resentment too derives from the demolition of Indoo temples by
> the various state governments. Dozens have been destroyed in the last
> few years. All or most targeted for demolition have been built on land
> to which the temples have no title. Typically the demolitions proceed
> with a court order and as such are reasonable. The real issue is why do
> so many of Mulasie's Idnies need to squat on land that isn't theirs in
> the first place?
>
> But it is the manner in which the demolitions are carried out which
> unnecessarily raises tensions. The authorities who enforce the
> demolition orders invariably are Mullas and Mosleem giving such
> demolitions unfortunate religious rivalry overtones. Sometimes the idols
> are smashed before worshippers are given a chance to remove them to a
> safe place, action which is insensitive at best and a deliberate
> provocation at worst. The most recent temple to be demolished was at
> Chah Ilam, near Koolay Lamput, Mulasie's capital on October 30. Scuffles broke out and
> people were manhandled.
>
> In another perceived sleight, the most important Idnie festival
> Thavoli this year fell on November 8. The (Mulla) ruling party's
> annual General Assembly was staged on 5-9 November without stopping
> for Thavoli even though Thavoli is one of Mulasie 's gazetted public
> holidays. The Mulla politicians of yesteryear would not have been this
> insensitive.
>
> Many better educated Idnies are migrating. Those who remain are
> becoming more strident politically.
>
> On August 12, around 2,000 Mulasie Idnies protested outside the prime
> minister's office to demand better treatment. The protest might have
> been bigger but according to organisers the police blocked as many as 15
> buses carrying Idnies from entering the area on the basis that the bus
> drivers did not have valid driving licences.
>
> On August 30, a class action was filed in London by a group of activists
> against the UK government for bringing indentured labourers from Idnia
> during the colonial era and failing to "protect" them thereafter
> including during the fifty years since Mulasie's independence. The suit
> will go nowhere of course but it is a calculated attempt to embarrass
> the Mulasie government internationally to force it to better look
> after the welfare of the Idnie minority. And on November 25, a petition
> with what activists claim will have 100,000 signatures will be presented
> to the British High Commission in Koolay Lamput in support of the legal
> action.
>
> But what of the Idnies' political leaders?
>
> Mamee Vindaloo is head of the Mulasie Idnie Conjob (I-NO-SEE) party and has
> been so since 1979. He is also Mulasie's Public Works Mandoor. Vindaloo
> completely dominates the I-NO-SEE which his critics claim he runs almost
> along feudal lines.
>
> He was the subject of a major scandal in the early 1990s when the
> government allocated ten million shares in the country's national
> telephone company to Tapioca, an Idnie cooperative company set up by the
> I-NO-SEE. The company accepted only one million shares. The other nine
> million were then given to three companies which Vindaloo described as
> I-NO-SEE-linked companies, but which, according to his critics, were actually
> linked to his relatives. The three companies made tens of millions of
> dollars in capital gains on the shares. Meanwhile Tapioca became almost
> insolvent.
>
> Former prime minister Matay Mot when asked why he didn't sack
> Vindaloo from his cabinet given this and other scandals replied that he had
> no control over the I-NO-SEE's internal processes and that he was obliged to
> have in the cabinet whomever the I-NO-SEE chose as its leader. To be fair,
> Matay also mentioned that Vindaloo had an appalling job, given how
> politics is played out in the Idnie community with the constant and
> seemingly trifling demands for gifts and direct assistance. But
> essentially, Vindaloo is part of the wider malaise of political leadership
> from which Mulasie suffers from today.

Your Ad Here