MOHAN: Lack of religious classes
VIOLENCE in Tamil movies is not the main cause of violence among Indian youths. That is the view of Indian leaders and educationists who disagreed with Pas Youth chief Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi’s statement on Monday that Malaysian Indians’ affinity to violence was because of long-term exposure to violent Tamil movies.
MIC Youth chief T. Mohan said: “It is not violence in movies but lack of religious classes among Indian youths. Indian society is very emotional and a simple thing like a touch can make one go overboard at times. This is where religious classes come in,” Mohan said.
He suggested that the government make it compulsory for all students to attend religious classes of their respective faiths.
Manikavasagam: Education can stop violence
Mohan said he very much doubted that groups who perpetrated crime were those who sat at home watching Tamil movies.
“It is the outside activities they (Indian youths) get involved in. Some of those that come from the estates, for example, may go to town and see the other races driving nice cars and that may drive some of them to commit illegal acts to attain such things.”
Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam said not all Tamil movies featured scenes of violence and that violence was not exclusive to Tamil films alone.
“I agree that crime involving Indians is on the rise, especially in Klang where it has gone up by more than 65 per cent but it is not because of Tamil movies.
Vigneswaran: Censorship Board not doing a good job
Manikavasagam felt this was where local leaders and NGOs could play a part. Universiti Sains Malaysia Social Sciences deputy dean Dr P. Sivamurugan said it was wrong of Nasruddin to blame Tamil films as the main cause of violence among Indians and questioned his motives.
“Perhaps it was political, to show he was helping the Indians but he cannot solely blame Tamil movies. Other movies are as violent and English action movies can be worse.”
He felt it was due to lack of social support by the government, NGOs and leaders that encourage Indian youth to see gangsters as role models.
“For some, especially the 30 per cent below the poverty line, it is the daily struggle that forces them to do something. Tamil movies may be a contributing factor but are not the main reason.”
However, Malaysian Indian Youth Development Foundation (MIYDF) chairman S. A. Vigneswaran differed in his views saying that if in the past the government did not heed his comments, perhaps now they would listen to Pas.
“I agree violence in (Tamil) movies is not being censored or banned,” he said.
“When I was a youth leader (of MIC), I used to say the same thing but it fell on deaf ears. I have been dealing with youths for many years and I challenge anyone who says that violence in films does not affect youths.
“People pick up ideas from movies and get excited, which in turn affects their lives.” He said many movies featured heroes taking the law into their own hands, adding: “In Tamil movies, they do so by using violence. It projects violence as the ultimate thing and that is how they resolve issues.
After all, whatever the hero does is supposed to be good. Violence breeds violence.”
He suggested the government appoint individuals dealing with juvenile delinquents or who have worked in the education field to be part of the Censorship Board, which he felt was not doing a good job.
He said, it was very easy to blame parents for allowing their children to watch such violent films but now such content is easily available on the Internet and parents cannot be policing their children all the time.
But having repeated this for years, Vigneswaran doubts anyone would bother now, despite Nasruddin’s statement.
Vigneswaran however agrees that the problem is not just Tamil movies as there is also violence in English, Chinese, Hindi and Malay films.
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