Anwar needs a figure head to galvanise Indian community support for PH

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Aug – The lack of a figure head to galvanise Indian voter support is one of the factors for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to record a decline in the community’s backing at the recently concluded elections in six states.

PH is in dire need of a focal point to get closer to the Indian community especially in the absence of MIC, the largest Indian based party in the country, in its arsenal.

In reality, Prime Minister and PH top man Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim needs someone like former MIC president the late Tun S. Samy Vellu to take the bull by its horns when it comes to the Indian community and turning the community’s support towards PH.

There is a void connecting the Indian community and the PH top leadership. DAP Indian leaders are not trusted as they come from a Chinese based party and are neither connected to the community nor its problems.

Furthermore, Indian leaders in PH have said that they were not the sole representatives to highlight Indian issues to the government and that it is the duty of all elected representatives irrespective of race.

The present PH/BN government has one Minister and a deputy minister of Indian origin.

They are V. Sivakumar, from DAP, who is the Human Resources Minister and K. Saraswathy from PKR who was made senator before being appointed Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives deputy minister.

These two leaders are not well known among the Indian community. They have not taken up issues besieging the community and are not popular with Indians in Malaysia generally.

Indians do not have a place to go to air their grouses and it seems like there is a communication breakdown between the community and the ruling PH government.

This void must be bridged by Anwar at the soonest or he risks further backlash from the community in future by-elections.

A study published by a news portal has revealed that Indian votes for PH dropped by 21%, 19% and 12% in Negeri Sembilan, Penang and Selangor, respectively.

On the other hand, the Indian votes for opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) in Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor increased by 29%, 19% and 14%, respectively. In general, there was a 15% drop in Indian votes for PH.

This is despite PN openly saying that the Malay agenda would be on the forefront should it come to power.

The six states which held elections were Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. PH lost badly in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah while PN made in roads winning more seats in Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Pulau Pinang.

MCA and MIC pulled out of the election with allegation that seats were not fairly distributed by their Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition partner, Umno. The once mighty Umno, now collaborating with PH, contested 108 seats in the six states but won a mere 19 seats.

After much coaxing by Anwar at the eleventh hour, MIC decided that it would throw its support for PH candidates at the polls, but it was too late to galvanise the fractured Indian voter base.

Whatever is said and done about the MIC, the party has the network nationwide and reaches to the community right up to the grassroots.

The party which is usually abuzz during elections was a tad bit mundane in efforts to ensure PH candidates win the polls.

Anwar and deputy prime minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi failed to capitalize on the party’s strength with the thought that the Indian community would continue its strong support for the PH.

They failed to empower the MIC to win the hearts and minds of Indian voters, brushing it aside and taking the Indian support for granted. And PH paid the price for this fallacy, clearly demonstrated at the state polls.

Other reason cited for the decline in Indian support for PH is Anwar’s handling of a question by an Indian student prior to the polls, on the quota system in education which was construed as condescending.

Some argue that the dropping of former Penang deputy chief minister P. Ramasamy from the state’s candidates list as one of the reasons for the decline in Indian support.

This is far from the truth as Ramasamy was never known to be fighting for Indian rights when he was the deputy chief minister and only made “noise” if something concerning Indians happens in the state.

He never had the nationwide reach for his exclusion off the candidates list to trigger a backlash from the community.

Another reason cited is PH’s choice of unknown Indian candidates at the polls and it is still unknown what criteria was used to pick these candidates some of whom were not even known by the community.

There were also many Indians who were unaware of the initiatives by the government to assist them and this boils down to the bad communication between the PH government and the community, which needs to be bridged urgently. — Xklusif