Truly Asia?

It is ironic that around the time Malaysian experts were arguing a case for an Asian Economic Community built around the core of ASEAN durin...

It is ironic that around the time Malaysian experts were arguing a case for an Asian Economic Community built around the core of ASEAN during an international conference in New Delhi, and just a few days after the NAM summit at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian police should have arrested nearly 270 Indians in that city with the apparent intention of showering indignities on them and causing serious embarrassment to India. The Malaysian government may consider the behaviour meted out to its own deputy prime minister some years ago as its internal affair but it is obliged to deal with foreigners possessing valid documents within accepted norms and laws. Going by reports, the disgraceful conduct of the law enforcement agencies was not just unlawful but constituted a serious blot on Malaysia’s democratic credentials.

The Malaysian authorities appear to have compounded their gross misconduct by tampering and disfiguring valid passports and visas of a large number of Indians. Such tampering by individuals is obviously illegal and punishable under the law, but the state machinery doing this is unprecedented. The motivation for such action, therefore, appears even more difficult to understand or explain. It is yet to be seen how the higher Malaysian authorities deal with such tampering by their law enforcement agencies.

Why such an incident should occur at all is a mystery. Even Pakistan has not attempted such barbarism! Most of the Indians arrested and harassed were professionals in the information technology sector, which brings many benefits to Malaysia. At one level, there have been serious discussions on how to build on the existing level of co-operation in IT between India and Malaysia. At another, there’s a sorry episode that totally negates the dignity of the professional and an environment conducive to bilateral co-operation that is so vital for such endeavours. New Delhi has done well to register its protest. But the onus is really on Kuala Lumpur to quickly redress the situation. Unfortunately, so far it has done little in this regard.