From Terence Netto
Whether it was by design or inadvertence, Rafizi Ramli, in praising Indian Malaysian teachers who taught him in his school days in a Deepavali tribute to Hindus, has put his finger on the pulse.
If it can be said that, generally speaking, Indian Malaysians are unhappy with their lot, one of the reasons is that they feel they are overlooked for employment in the occupations they once excelled in.
In a nice touch to his Deepavali greetings to Hindu Malaysians, Rafizi remembered with praise his teachers, who were Indians, who must have conveyed their subject matter very well as otherwise ex-pupil Rafizi would not have been moved enough to honour them with citations.
Indian Malaysians, in their prime in a Malaysia gone by made good teachers, excelling at teaching subjects such as mathematics and science.
They were also good sports teachers, taking charge of their schools’ sports and athletic teams, acquitting themselves with dedication that often went beyond the call of duty.
Most of them loved what they were doing and did what they did for no other reason than that they delighted in it.
“The labour we delight in physics pain,” as Shakespeare observed aptly in Macbeth.
Indian Malaysians who are aware of this past of excellence in pedagogy retch at the spectacle of mounting instances of bullying and of violence in schools.
Indian Malaysians also made good secretaries of sports bodies which is why they find it painful to see Malaysian football in the situation it is in today, under sanctions from Fifa over egregious mistakes in the administration of the national team.
This could never happen in the era of Paul Mony Samuel, who was general secretary of FAM (mid-1984 to mid-2000).
In 1990, then Fifa secretary general Joseph Blatter hailed FAM as one of the best-run affiliates of the world body.
Indian Malaysians who remember this past of merit in the teaching in schools, in the coaching of school sports teams, and in the administration of national sports bodies, don’t like to dwell too much on this matter because of fear that they may lurch into criticism of the replacements.
This they don’t want to do, for fear of being anti-national.
So, when someone like Rafizi praises Indian paragons of the past, in the teaching profession at least, Indian Malaysians feel pride at the implicit tribute to the excellence of their past standard-bearers.
No doubt, this pride is tinged with sadness at the present malaise in schools and sports bodies.
Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.