Free gifts to woo Indian voters

In the race to lure the Indian community, BN throws dinner parties, while Pakatan Rakyat shows off its achievements in the states it rules.

MERLIMAU: Going into the final lap, both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat are still working hard to woo over the Indian community.

To ensure it locks up the Indian vote bank, BN has established seven command centres to concentrate on the 1,567 Indian voters.

As usual, the BN is using the same, old tactics – throwing dinner parties, holdings concerts, distributing uniforms to students and sarees to women, showing movies and giving out small financial assistance.

And the Merlimau Indians rushed to attend all these events – and they get paid too.

For example, it is alleged that every Indian voter who attended a dinner organised by an anonymous 1Malaysian NGO supporters’ club received RM100, 1Malaysia T-shirts, and food with a lucky draw thrown in.

BN is confident it can net about 75% to 80% of the Indian voters.

Not to be outdone, Pakatan is also working the ground, going from door to door to fish for votes.

In their walkabouts, the Pakatan campaigners never failed to highlight the achievements of the party in the states it controlled, namely, Selangor, Kedah and Penang.

A local PKR Youth leader M Sivakumar said that Pakatan is optmistic that PAS can garner 50% of the Indian votes.

“I have been working on the ground since last month, and from what I see, the Indians are unhappy with BN,” he told FMT.

For example, Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said that there are no poor Indian
families in Merlimau. But in reality, 50% to 60% of the Indians are living below the poverty line.

But he admitted that although the Indians are rushing for free gifts, it does not mean they are favouring BN.

“I can say that Merlimau Indians will become a ‘silent killer’ to the BN,” he added. - FMT