Let's ignore the misleading and distorted views of a US-based influencer

Free Malaysia Today

06-05-2025

An Indian immigrant in the US is ruffling feathers with a 25-minute tirade alleging that the 'Malaysian PM discriminates against Hindus in Malaysia.'
The social media 'influencer', Sree Iyer, takes a moralising tone and appears to be riding a high horse – but his arguments seem to be based mainly from reading media reports. He did not speak to any Indian Malaysian nor has he lived a day in Malaysia.
By his own admission, the only time he was in Malaysia was about 15 years ago when he spent 10 hours in transit while travelling to his hometown of Hyderabad from Los Angeles.
He should be ignored.
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But many Malaysians have chosen to make the video go viral in the Indian community, without analysing his arguments. The big problem is that he has 696,000 subscribers. which is why his unfair and unbalanced attack has to be addressed. I wish he had been responsible enough to speak to some of us before doing this damage.
As an Indian Malaysian of the Hindu faith who is a third-generation citizen, my advice to this gentleman is to stop this kind of mindless provocation.
He is not only being misleading but is also absolutely irresponsible in making accusations of the Malaysian government attempting to wipe out the religion and also threatening Christianity.
His style, demeanor and his use of outdated facts and some preposterous claims based on hearsay have made many Malaysian Indians cringe in horror.
His attack on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and some Malaysian policies appears to be triggered after a comment by Anwar during his visit to India, when he said 'certain treatment of the minorities in India are disconcerting'
Sree Iyer responded by saying minorities in India get first class treatment while the majority receive only A class category – but offered no evidence of how he reached such a conclusion. In the same breath, he even attacked Singapore for alleged racism and allowing it to be a centre for money laundering.
The fact that such nonsensical attacks come from someone who left India to live in the US speaks volumes of the comfort zone from which he is launching his attack on Malaysia.
It was shocking that he even encouraged Indian Malaysians to arm themselves with martial arts to protect themselves in the future. This is totally absurd and something he must have said without thinking.
Sree Iyer and his ilk should be told straight off that we do not need this form of interference, especially from someone who has never spent even a day in Malaysia, in trying to champion the cause of Hindus in Malaysia.
Despite their warts and all, we have a few political parties and NGOs who constantly speak up for the Indian community and their culture. There are many journalists, social media influencers, bloggers among others taking up these kinds of issues.
While some in the Indian community are forced to work extra hard to keep their families going, there are many success stories not being told to the world. There are issues but we have government representatives from all races and religions doing their bit to help.
Of course, there is a need for more attention to help the community but please allow us to do it our way. Do not use social media to provoke the government from the outside with inaccurate one-sided arguments based on news reports and columns.
For the record, freedom of worship is entrenched in the Malaysian constitution and there is no chance of that being wiped out for a long time. The presence of tens of thousands of Hindu and Chinese temples and Christian churches attests to this.
The Lord Murugan statue at Batu Caves, the largest in the region, still stands, and is visited by millions of tourists from abroad.
There are voices of discontent but that is common in any country. India's Muslims, too, have their side of the story. Admittedly, most of the religious problems are related to the legality of temples. Let the Hindu representatives in the government sort that out.
People like Sree Iyer do not have the locus standi to comment on our problems as they are totally disconnected from what's happening on the ground.
For his information, unlike him most Indian Malaysians have nowhere to run and Malaysia is their only place which they call home. And actually, most love this country and do not want to leave.
His Youtube caption says 'from physical attacks and isolation, Malaysian Hindus are finding it hard.' This is not only preposterous but far from the truth.
For Malaysians to spread his video clip among the Indian community is to do a complete disservice to the Hindu community.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.