October, November, December, 2002

IN MY OPINION

A Cry for Help

Facing conversion, poverty and suicide in Malaysia

BY K. THURUVAN

In my country of Malaysia, the 1.2 million Hindus that live here comprise 7.6 percent of the total population. Hindu temples outnumber all of the mosques and Christian churches put together, even though Malaysia is an Islamic country. Yet, these temples could be doing much more in providing service, assistance and education to the local Hindus.

Very few Malaysian Hindu temples conduct religious classes or provide spiritual discourses by knowledgeable teachers, pundits or swamis. Fewer still provide effective programs to help the poor, the needy and the sick. There is absolutely no counselling, and most of the temple managers know nothing about any religion, much less Hinduism. As a consequence of all this, the temples are becoming commercial centers selling ceremony, usually at a high price.

As a volunteer social worker serving on behalf of a local organization called the Malaysian Hindu Sangam (MHS), I provide a number of services around Seremban, the town where I live. I help in the geriatrics ward of a local hospital and provide consoling for Hindus. I also seek out and assist poverty-stricken Hindu families of the area. I do what I can, but it never seems enough. In my work I have observed four main problems facing Hindus here.

The first problem is suicide among the elderly. In the hospital where I work, suicides occur about once a month, although suicide attempts take place almost daily. Even though I serve people of all religions in the hospital, I cannot help being painfully aware that usually only Hindus attempt suicide. "Why is this?" I wonder. Certainly, better religious education in local temples would help drive this suicide rate among Hindus down.

The second problem is aggressive Christian evangelism. These crusaders for Christ visit Hindu patients in hospitals and offer prayers for their recovery. The patients are in no condition, mentally or physically, to clearly understand what is going on. If their health improves, they are made to believe that Christian prayers saved them. The doctors cure the patients, but the Christians take the credit. Again, there is a need for Hindus helping Hindus through better education in local temples. I am on the look-out for these Christian extremists and counteract their efforts by explaining the Hindu point of view to helpless Hindu patients while offering them vibuthi (holy ash sanctified in a Hindu temple). It is curious to note the total absence of these "curing Christians" in the ward for the terminally ill.

The third problem is conversion to Islam. I have encountered this first hand in my counselling sessions with Hindus who convert to Islam to marry a Muslim girl or boy and cannot get back into Hinduism when the marriage ends in divorce. Many Hindus anguish over this, and no one that I know can properly explain why such a senseless restriction exists. I simply try to warn them ahead of time.

The fourth problem is extreme poverty among Malaysian Hindus due to adharma (unrighteous living). The source of this particular problem lies almost always with the husband. He is either an alcoholic, a drug addict, in prison, or he has left the family for a younger woman. When such situations are extreme and the family just cannot help itself, the MHS takes the initiative and the responsibility to provide food rations and see that the children's education is continued. Much counselling is needed here to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of these families.

With Malaysian Hindus left helpless to face the challenges of poverty and sickness as well as the threats of conversion to both Islam and Christianity, the Hindu population in Malaysia is most certainly going to go down. Now is the time for Malaysian Hindu temples to fulfill their proper and necessary function—ministering more deeply to the needs of the people for whom they exist.