Indian voters still a potent force

In some constituencies, Indian voters will be the deciding factor and a third force has emerged to woo them.

PETALING JAYA: The Indian voters were a force to be reckoned with in the last general election. And for the coming election, all political parties are bent on wooing Indian voters.

At the last count, nine political parties from both sides of the divide and civil rights movement, want to contest in 64 parliamentary seats.

The political parties feel that these constituencies have substantial Indian voters to swing the results their way.

Some political pundits feel that there are too many Indian parties chasing a limited number of seats and in the end they may cancel each other out.

Barisan Nasional (BN) will have 10 parliamentary seats reserved for Indians where MIC will take nine and PPP one.

MIC, a traditionally Indian-based party aligned with Umno and its BN partner since 1955, suffered its worst defeat in the last election where it lost six of the nine parliamentary seats it contested.

The party was further humiliated when president S Samy Vellu, deputy president, a vice-president, Youth chief and women chief all failed to retain their seats.

They won back some measure of support in the Hulu Selangor by-election where P Kamalanathan won against PKR’s Zaid Ibrahim.

‘Sure’ seats

MIC also helped BN win the by-elections in Tenang, Bagan Pinang, and Merlimau when the Indian voters swung back to MIC.

But all is not well in the Indian communiuty. The MIC is unhappy with the government’s treatment of the community in not solving the Interlok row and with Indian top students being sidelined when it came to getting Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships.

The party’s saving grace might be Umno. Rather than see its Indian-based component party being taken to the cleaners again, Umno will give MIC “sure” seats.

Another Indian-based party, PPP, is eyeing the safe seat of Cameron Highlands. Party president M Kayveas, who was defeated in Taiping by DAP candidate Nga Kor Ming, wants the highland seat. But the seat is now held by MIC vice-president SK Devamany.

Rather than ruffle feathers, BN will swap Grik , Taiping and Cameron Highlands seats among Gerakan, PPP and MIC.

The Malaysian Makkal SakthiParty (MMSP) is keen on another Indian seat – Sungai Siput. And since it is aligned to BN, it hopes big brother will offer them the seat.

Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) chaired by Anwar Ibrahim former tennis partner S Nallkaruppan is also looking at a parliamentary constituency.

Pakatan Rakyat’s Indian leaders feel thay have a chance in contesting 17 parliamentary seats. It is learnt that PKR Indian leaders are eyeing seven parliamentary seats , the DAP is looking at eight and Parti Sosialist Malaysia (PSM) wants two seats.

‘Loose understanding’

There is a loose understanding within Pakatan that the Indian leaders will be offered 15 to 16 seats.

The spoiler for the Indian votes will be the minority Indian parties called the “third force”.

Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) forms part of the third force. According to a reliable source, MCLM held a “secret” meeting with several parties to form third force if Pakatan refused to recgonise the third force.

MCLM itself is going to put at least 7 to 10 Indian candidates nationwide, who will stand as independents .The Human Rights Party (HRP) is also looking at 15 parliamentary seats.

At the same time, Malaysian People’s Welfare Party (Kita) is also preparing to contest in the
coming election.

“We will stand in at least five Indian majority constituencies,” said a Selangor local leader.

In another development, a group of Indian NGOs also want to contest in five parliamentary seats.
There are also a few politicians and businessmen who intend to compete as independents

A check by FMT revealed that there might be at least three-cornered fights in Tapah, Cameron Highlands, Sungai Siput, Klang, Kapar, Subang and Hulu Selangor where traditionally all the seats belonged to MIC.