‘Hindraf will join Pakatan on one condition’

Hindraf pro-temchairman Waythamoorthy said his party would only team up with Pakatan if the latter addresses Indian woes more effectively.

PETALING JAYA: Hindraf Makkal Sakthi is willing to join Pakatan Rakyat on one condition: the latter must look into the problems of the Indian community more effectively.

Hindraf pro-tem chairman P Waythamoorthy said Pakatan’s own lacklustre performance in dealing with the Indian problems had driven significant amount of the community’s support away from the opposition pact.

“This is why we had an ambivalent relationship with Pakatan for the past three years and they kept ignoring the Indians at their own peril,” he said.

He was responding to a call by DAP chairman Karpal Singh that all political parties opposed to the Barisan Nasional join Pakatan officially without any conditions attached.

“For now, there seems to be a 20% to 50% shift of the Indian votes away from Pakatan compared to 2008. This resulted in Pakatan losing several by-elections,” he added.

Waythamoorthy said that Pakatan should call for a meeting soon with Hindraf leaders to iron out details and take the matter to the next level.

Although the parties may have had their differences in the past, he said it was time for them to set aside their quarrels and unite to unseat the powerful BN in the next general election.

“There’s no way Hindraf or Pakatan by itself can remove BN from Putrajaya. Only a synergy between us will help us in the next polls,” Waythamoorthy said in a statement..

Karpal had set his sights on Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and Human Rights Party (HRP) – the political outfit of Hindraf – to join Pakatan.

Socialist ideology

Waythamoorthy said that it was vital for them to enter a pact based on mutually agreed upon principles and not for convenience alone.

“With mutual understanding, we may see the scale being tipped back to Pakatan’s favour,” he said.

Echoing Waythamorrthy’s sentiments, PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan also welcomed Karpal’s statement and hoped that Pakatan leaders would call for a meeting with them soon.

“Our position is that we will continue working with Pakatan to kick BN out from Putrajaya,” said Arutchelvan.

However, he rebutted Karpal’s statement on socialism, saying the world is seeing a revival of socialist ideology in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Karpal had reportedly said yesterday that “socialism is no longer a powerful political tool in the country as it was in 1960s. It’s about time PSM considered its socialist position to join Pakatan officially”.

Arutchelvan also said that many countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina are currently adopting socialist ideas in their policies to ensure that their people’s welfare is taken care of.

With Europe and the US going through a debt crisis, he said the people are aware of the mess the capitalist system had created for the world.

“Even in the US, there is a mass protest movement called Occupy Wall Street, which is taking place to oppose the capitalist system which only enriches a few.

“Even the superpower is talking about greater government involvement in regulating the markets, which is a socialist idea,” said Arutchelvan.