On November 26th 2007, the Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) led by Dato Nalla was formed and it quickly vowed its support for the BN. I remembered that at the launch of the party a month earlier, Dato Nalla had Izam Noor, the one time aide to Anwar Ibrahim by his side. Dato Nalla who was also a staunch supporter of Anwar Ibrahim's PKR, disassociated himself from the PKR, supposedly due to some political differences with the PKR leadership.
Now, we have another Indian based party i.e. the Makkal Sakti Party (MSP) scheduled to be launched on October 10th 2009 by non other than the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak himself. If one could recollect, Makkal Sakti was the slogan used during the Hindraf anti-government rallies in 2007. MSP is therefore a splinter of the outlawed Hindraf that still has a large number of followers.
By having PM Najib for the launching, one can assume that the MSP is aligned to the BN, though the party is yet to be formerly recognised as a component party of the BN. The same can also be said of the MIUP. However, should both the parties seek to be a component party of the BN, this I suppose will not go well for the MIC as it can no longer claim to be the rightful representative of the Malaysian Indian community, and for which the BN leadership can now willfully ignore. And I suppose too that by having more than one Indian based political party within the BN's ambit, neither can anyone claim that the Malaysian Indian community is now united. On the contrary, I foresee dissension among its leaders will continue to persist. This has been the case between the MIC and PPP, although the latter does not represent an all Indian based political party.
The launch of the MSP on October 10th 2009 comes a day short of the Bagan Pinang by-election day. This may be a coincidence, but to most political observers, it is designed to boast the Indians dwindling support for the BN, especially where the Indian voters accounts for almost 20% of the total eligible voters in Bagan Pinang. Acceptance of the MSP by the BN leadership will portray to the Indian voters that the BN is willing to reconcile and to extend their hands of friendship, even to all those who had once opposed the government through their association with Hindref.
One cannot discount the little known MIUP's role in the by-election, as well as M. Kayveas People's Progressive Party (PPP) in their attempt to woo the Indians to vote for the BN. Mr. Samy's MIC that proudly claims to represent the Malaysian Indian community would not want to be left out in its quest to remain relevant and to draw Indian voters support for the BN, and indirectly the support for the MIC. Mr. Samy now needs the support of the Indian community more than the rival MIUP and MSP, because of the growing pressure for him to step down as the MIC chief from within and outside the party, notably from elder stateman Tun Dr. Mahathir himself.
Clearly, the Indian community is more divided now than ever before, and this does not auger well for the future of the community. The issue of Hindraf will remain a thorn in the flesh of the government, and the creation of smaller Indian based political parties is no guarantee that the community can be united. The problem actually lies in its leaders, and the sooner they get their acts together and to set aside their ego, self centered and selfish beliefs, the better it will be for their community.
And to Mr. Samy, your days are numbered and you very well know this. It is better to leave when you still have some semblance of support from the party. It will be worse if the party so decide to oust you and for you to be treated like a pariah. Please take the cue from the departure of our former PM Tun Dr. Mahathir and Tun Abdullah Badawi who are still treated with honour and respect.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
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3 comments:
Dear Dato,
In my assessment the Indian community is now akin to lost sheep. An untrustworthy shepherd will be cast aside, and the sheep of course are not smart enough to choose their preferred shepherd (if they could, they would'nt be sheep in the first place, would they?)So, if BN can organise a shepherd now, it is a good time to do so. However, UMNO,BN etc. clearly is a failing leadership. So, how can this materialise? In short, the sheep are now vulnerable to the wolves. Some sheep being smarter than others may attempt to devise some plans to keep the wolves at bay. It would remain plans nevertheless, because it is not workable. The other sheep do not know this, so they follow, from destruction to damnation. Ahah!, then comes a saviour, too little too late but a breath of fresh air to Indian politics. Let's see this happen,and this is the karma to be served by the community. Finally, it is not the leader, the party, the alliance (pardon the pun), but the will of the rakyat. When will we ever learn?
The Indian community is getting more splitting within a very short period to have come up with a number of political factions that make them looked like nothing more than a widely dispersed colonies in the frontierland.
The word Makkal Sakhti will have no more "sakti" the moment MSP joins BN it will become a tool just like all other Indian parties of BN. While the Malays of BN is only UMNO and the Chinese are MCA and Gerakan, the Indians are aplenty with MIC, PPP and MIUP and now MSP and maybe later Hindraf too, who knows.
The Indians have no unifying voice and easily a community to "break and rule" by this government. What made them think that BN can be a trusted ally when BN has failed MIC and all other Indians component parties to give a damn to not to fail MSP, just because MSP is a splinter group of Hindraf?
MIC is far far bigger than MSP and no matter whatever happened to them recently, MIC is still a strongly integrated Indian Party, never disintegrated at all by all those fracas and Samy Vellu is still the High Priest, surviving as usual.
And even if BN wins in Bagan Pinang, MSP cannot simply claim it as their sole effort to help bringing the support of the 20% Indians votes, the MIC is there to share the stake as well and BN can never deny nor admit anything that can be hurting to the Indian community.
But Bagan Pinang is only a marginal testing ground for MSP to have to prove anything of their "new blood" for BN.
No Indian will get any stronger by joining BN for their voice can never be heard by the people who are more on the outside of the BN's coconut shell.
A classic case of too many chiefs and only a few indians.
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