MIC hits back, calls Pakatan Indian leaders ‘mandores’

Ruffled by 'Umno puppet' tag, MIC Youth wing chief lashes out at DAP's Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy and Pakatan's Indian reps.

GEORGE TOWN: Irked by the unsavoury “Umno puppet” tag, MIC has returned fire at Pakatan Rakyat Indian leaders and branded them mere “mandores” to ethnic Chinese warlords.

Penang MIC Youth wing chief J Dhinagaran also chided Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) II P Ramasamy and four other Pakatan Indian state represensatives of doing little for the Indian community since 2008.

Besides Prai assemblyman Ramasamy, other Pakatan assemblymen are A Tanasekharan (Bagan Dalam), Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat), RSN Rayer (Seri Delima) – all DAP – and PKR’s S Raveentharan (Batu Uban).

“What are the DAP’s and its Indian elected assemblymen’s contributions to the Indian community in Penang?” asked Dhinagaran.

He described Ramasamy as just “a mandore to Chinese warlords without any power”.

“Having a DCM’s position is nothing, the end result is what counts,” he said.

“An intelligent man is one who uses his position to benefit his community,” he said in an obvious tit-for-tat to DAP’s claim that MIC is an Umno’s puppet.

Yesterday, Tanasekharan said that the MIC had swindled poor Indians’ money through various party programmes such as Maika Holdings, MIED and Aimst University.

Describing Tanasekharan as “an empty vessel”, Dhinagaran said the DAP politician is living in the past and recycling old issues that had already been resolved.

He demanded Tanasekharan and others in the Pakatan-ruled state their stand on pledges made by its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to help save Kampung Buah Pala from demolition.

“Ramasamy, Tanasekharan and the rest did not have the guts to fight for Indian rights because they feared they would be ostracised by their Chinese warlords in DAP,” he said.

Dhinagaran, however, did not refute claims that only a handful of DAP members were among the 807 who joined the MIC at the Kilat Club on Sunday.

Instead, he said the event ruffled DAP’s Indian leaders and rebuked Ramasamy and company for trying to give an impression to their Chinese warlords that the Indians still trust Pakatan.

Stateless status of Indians

Dhinagaran said that MIC would rather focus on regaining the Prai and Bagan Dalam seats in the next general election.

He wanted Tanasekharan to explain his failure to deliver on his promise to erect a community hall in Waterfall area during his tenure as Penang Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB) chairman.

Tanasekharan claimed that all 28 Tamil schools in Penang have received their annual state allocation of RM 1.7 million.

Dhinagaran said that Penang MIC chief, Senator PK Subbaiyah, had also managed to secure RM2.1 million during his four-year tenure as state executive councillor under the previous BN government.

“It is a shame that the DCM has only managed to obtain a meagre amount from the DAP government. He should also be ashamed for taking credit for the Azad Tamil School after Subbaiyah had worked hard work to secure land for the school during the previous BN government,” said Dhinagaran.

“Also, the relocation of the Hindu temple in Butterworth was done with the approval of the temple committee which wanted a bigger place to organise its annual festivals,” said Dhinagaran, who aspires to be MIC candidate in Bagan Dalam constituency in the next election.

He said that MIC under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had implemented various projects and also addressed the stateless status of many Indians through Mydaftar programme.

He said that programmes such as Mesra Rakyat (people friendly) and Najib’s open discussions with the various Indian groups have been a huge success in addressing many Indian issues.