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Double Standards

While the Indian government, political leaders and businessmen have no qualms berating Obama for setting up protectionist barriers towards American companies that ship jobs abroad. The same can’t be said about these same Indian politicians who deny the basic education, jobs to people who are not of a certain caste, religion etc. The caste based reservations have caused havoc in the way seats are assigned for professional courses and jobs. Its one place where the Government of India balantly discriminates against its own citizens just because they are born in some other caste. But they will go hammer and tongs at the American government for doing something to protect the jobs for its own citizens.

At least the American government doesnt discriminate against its own people as the Indian government does. In terms of transparency, the Indian economy is ranked 123 in the Economic Freedom World rankings whereas the USA is ranked 6th.  That just goes to show how protectionist the Indian government and its economy is. What then gives the politicians the moral authority to rail against Obama and his team for trying to deny tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas? Obama is elected by Americans. He is responsible for their well being. The Indian politician also claims that the protectionist measure he espouses is for the well being of Indians.  Then why the double standards?

Isnt it time we set our own house in order before throwing stones at others?

Greed

A few years ago there used to be 3 airlines that flew between Singapore and Hyderabad.  They were Silkair (a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines), Indian Airlines and Air India.  Both Indian Airlines and Air India merged to become one entity.  As the passenger load factor between the 2 cities increased, the greedy Singapore Airlines (SQ) replaced Silkair with SQ and jacked up prices (from approx SG$ 600 to approx SG$1070).

Mysteriously, Air India also stopped flying between the 2 cities citing rationalising of routes leaving travellers at the mercy of the high priced SQ.  I quit using SQ and stared flying by Tiger Airways to Chennai and took the domestic Kingfisher Airlines.  In spite of the round trip, it saved me more than SG$500 (approx 15,000 rupees) per trip.

As the recession set in, people started flying less.  It started to tell on the SQ passenger load factor.  They started to fly almost empty.  Slowly SQ reduced its frequency between the 2 cities to just 3 trips a week.  And, now they have announced that once again SQ will be replaced by Silkair and that it will fly between the two cities 5 times a week starting June 15th.

The excessive greed of Singapore Airlines in wanting to make as much money from the paying public with its ridiculous pricing has made sure that it has lost many customers.  I for one, have sworn never to fly SQ again.  I also advise all my friends and relatives to avoid it as much as possible. Not only on this sector, but everywhere. I advise them to fly Thai, Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Emirates, Cathay Pacific….. anything, except SQ.

The only way we, as the paying public can bring all these high flying business establishments who try to screw us with their peak pricing and monopolistic business practices is to hit them where it hurts them the most.  At their pockets.

I did. And am happy to see SQ lose business and now start to fly its low fare subsidiary, Silkair between Singapore and Hyderabad.  Hope at least now SQ will realise that greed does pay in the short run, but over a long period they will only lose business and alienate their customers forever.

Hope this recession teaches all the businesses some valuable lessons.

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With the Malaysian minister asking TN Chief Minister Karunanidhi to lay off from his country’s mess, its nothing but double standards by the Malaysian government. If that’s the reason, why does Malaysia make so much noise about the situation in Myanmar and why does it espouse the Palestine cause and the muslim case around the world?

Typical double standards of a country reeking of mediocrity is what makes up Malaysia. Its probably the only country in the world where the majority has reservations to compete against the minority in its own country. The majority Malay Bumiputras ( so called ‘sons of soil’) are given unfair rights in the economy and political sphere. The minority Chinese are financially well off and control the economy of Malaysia. Its only the Indians who are marginalised and who’se rights have been trampled upon and discriminated against.

The bubbly has burst, and the myth of multi culturalism of Malaysia has been exposed now. After being unable to gain their rights the legitimate way, the Indians in Malaysia have now taken to the streets in protest. As usual, the government refuses to see reason and wants to crush the protests by invoking the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).

No wonder, the new reports point to the fact the Malaysian Indians are now looking at probably the world’s most deadly terrorist organisation, LTTE to fight for their rights. Its indeed sad if the LTTE gets involved. They are probably one of the most underrated and most destructive terrorist organisation with unlimited money, weapons and highly trained killers at their disposal.

What it would mean to the stability of South East Asia is something that needs to be seen. Probably Malaysia would prove to be an even more unstable and dangerous situation than what is happening currently in Myanmar.

Angry ethnic Indians who marched in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to protest race-based discrimination in Malaysia carried portraits of Mahatma Gandhi as a symbol of their non-violent struggle. “But if their genuine grievances continue to be ignored, (Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers leader) Velupillai Prabakaran could soon replace Gandhi as their inspiration,” warns P. Ramasamy, former professor of history at University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

In an interview to DNA from Singapore, Ramasamy, who was appointed by the LTTE to its Constitutional Affairs Committee in 2003, connected the dots that link the Tamil diaspora in Malaysia (which accounts for most of the Indian population there) to the Tamil Eelam movement in Sri Lanka.

“They have been knocking their heads on the wall for so long, that some form of radicalisation has already happened.” Militant views are not yet being publicly articulated, “but they are frequently voiced in private gatherings,” he notes.
It is in this context that the Tamil diaspora’s solidarity with the LTTE assumes significance. Ramasamy notes that Tamils in Malaysia are active contributors to the Tamil Eelam cause.

“Indians in Malaysia are very sympathetic to Prabakaran, and Tamil newspapers valorise Prabakaran,” adds Kuppusamy.

Read the disturbing article here.

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