Najib’s pledge on Indians too little, too late

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak belabours under a misconception that the makkal sakthi – people power – wave unleashed by Hindraf Makkal Sakthi in the political tsunami of March 2008 has petered out.

As a result, he has erroneously concluded that Indian voters are abandoning the opposition alliance in droves and flocking back to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) led by Umno.

Hence, his public pledge in recent days at a Deepavali function in Kuala Lumpur that BN will not ignore the Indian community and indeed cannot afford to do so.

He furthered contended that the BN, unlike the opposition Pakatan Rakyat, will not take Indians for granted.

He did not say that “the BN will no longer continue to take Indians for granted”.

There’s a world of difference between the two statements.

The former would mean that the BN has never taken the Indians for granted. The latter would concede that BN has indeed been taking Indians for granted, but more like taking them for a ride. Is there even a hint of an apology from Najib here somewhere?

This – taking for granted – is rich with meaning coming from Najib who presides over an apartheid-like state and a caste system rolled into one.

He forgets that it’s the very same BN, and its predecessor the Alliance in another incarnation, which has ridden rough-shed over the Indian community for the better part of half a century and more.

Why would the Indian community now suddenly accept that BN is a leopard that can indeed change its spots?

If Indians have a quarrel with Pakatan, they have even more to beef about with BN, Umno in particular.

Mother of all issues

With regard to Pakatan, the Indians have clearly decided to withdraw their support but not to direct the same support towards BN because there’s no reason on earth to do so.

It’s unfortunate that Pakatan, unlike Umno and the BN, doesn’t want the term “Indian” even mentioned. The excuse is that Pakatan is not about race and religion that drive people apart “but about bringing people together”. At the same time, in a contradiction in terms, Pakatan has no qualms about talking openly about the Chinese and Malays.

One has only to listen to Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) pro-tem secretary-general, P Uthayakumar, to arrive at the truth of the matter vis-à-vis BN and Pakatan.

HRP has been existing as a pro tem party for the last 10 years or more and shows no sign of being registered anytime soon by the Registrar of Societies (ROS). The ROS has the sole power to register political parties but is being dictated to on the matter by Umno through the Home Minister. Even the courts seem unable to uphold the Federal Constitution and help HRP out of its dilemma.

Uthayakumar has drawn up a long list of 101 Indian issues created by the neglect, benign or otherwise, of the Umno government. Of the 101 issues, he deems that 18 Points – echoes of Sabah’s 20 points and Sarawak’s 18 Points – as crucial.

The mother of all issues is that Umno has splintered, via the Election Commission (EC), 15 parliamentary seats and 38 state seats in Peninsular Malaysia, which would otherwise be Indian. As a result, there’s not even one parliamentary or state seat in Peninsular Malaysia which has even a simple Indian majority.

Having Indian representatives in Parliament and state assemblies – in particular Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor – representing the Indian community and taking up their issues would mean making some progress in resolving their myriad grievances.

At present, the Indian representatives in Parliament and the state assemblies – whether from the BN or Pakatan – cannot represent the Indian community since they are largely elected by non-Indians.

Hence, they can’t even open their mouths – especially in Pakatan – on Indian issues.

Indian representatives in BN are political mandores, as Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and the HRP put it. If so, Indian representatives in Pakatan are “double mandores”. The difference is that the former can mention “Indian” in public while the latter are barred from doing so.

Hot air

Meanwhile, none of the 101 Indian issues is being attended to by the Umno government over which Najib presides. So, what does he mean by saying that “BN will not ignore the Indian community and indeed cannot afford to do so”.

It’s so much hot air!

For starters, Najib must apologise for the wrongs that Umno has perpetrated against the Indian community over the last 50 years and more.

Such an apology will not be complete unless it persuades its poodle, the MIC, to apologise as well. They must go to every nook and cranny of the land and apologise to neutralise their bad karma.

Umno must apologise first, followed by MIC.

The apology is unlikely to happen, as Umno will claim that the Malays will not hear of it. So, that will be the end of the matter.

An apology from MIC alone would be like adding insult to injury.

In any case, even an apology from Umno and/or MIC will not save the ruling party from the hatred the Indian community harbours towards it.

At best, an apology will only persuade the Indian community not to do further harm to Umno and MIC at the ballot box.

There’s no need for Umno, BN and MIC to persuade Indians not to vote Pakatan. Indians will not do so.

Instead, come the 13th general election, the Indian community will abstain from voting as Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and HRP are urging them to do so. This strategy, not a polls boycott, will make both winners and losers realise why they won or why they lost.

The winners will know that they won because the Indians didn’t vote against them. The losers will know that they lost because Indians didn’t vote for them.

That will set the stage for 14th general election with full Indian participation.

Najib should stop the hype and consider the Indian question as the new Umno dilemma in facing the 13th general election.

Najib’s pledge on the Indians comes too little, too late.