HRP 'very confident' of winning Kota Raja seat

The Human Rights Party (HRP) is “very confident” of wresting the Kota Raja Parliamentary seat from Pakatan Rakyat during the next general election.

HRP pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar named Kota Raja as its front-line seat during a election fund-raising dinner last night in Kuala Lumpur.

When contacted for details, Uthayakumar said HRP was confident of garnering 90 percent of the Indian vote in Kota Raja, which has 71,887 total voters, of which Indians form 28.3 percent.

He added that HRP is also targeting 33 percent of the Chinese vote, which he believes would be enough to tide the party through.

“Assuming that Pakatan candidate gets 70 percent of the Malay votes, but Hindraf candidate gets a quarter of the Chinese votes and 90 percent of the Indian votes, we are going to edge out Pakatan by a couple of hundred votes,” Uthayakumar toldMalaysiakini today.

Kota Raja is a racially-mixed urban constituency. Malay voters make up 47.8 percent while Chinese voters makes up 23.2 percent. The seat is currently held by PAS women’s wing deputy chief Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud.

‘Send Hindraf to Parliament’

Uthayakumar said HRP was capable of attracting 90 percent of the Indian voters because many crucial issues affecting the Indian community remains unaddressed.

He said the party has already begun groundwork.

He also added that HRP was preparing a “strong” candidate but declined to name the person. The only hint offered was that the nominee was a former ISA detainee.

“If we win, we will be creating a new history by being the first anti-BN independent candidate,” he said, taking a jab at the current lineup of independents in the Dewan Rakyat.

Uthayakumar unveiled this and HRP’s election plans during a fund raising dinner, themed “Send Hindraf into Parliament”, last night in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur before a crowd of about 500 people.

Hindraf, or the Hindu Rights Action Force, was a movement led by Uthayakumar and his brother Waytha Moorthy which rose to prominence in 2007. HRP is Hindraf’s political arm.

During the dinner, Uthayakumar revealed that HRP was now scaling down its seven Parliamentary seat and 14 state seat target to just three Parliament and four state seats, all in Selangor.

Pushed to a corner

Apart from Kota Raja, the other two Parliamentary seats are Kelana Jaya and Kuala Selangor while the four state seats are Bukit Melawati, Sri Andalas, Ijok and Seri Setia.

These are all seats where the Indian community constitutes at least 20 percent of the total number of voters.

Explaining the decision to scale down its electoral goals, Uthayakumar HRP wants to consolidate its efforts to just Selangor instead of stretching itself nationwide.

“We want to put an end to Umno rule but we also want to check and balance Pakatan. So even if we win all four state seats from Pakatan, it will not hinder their efforts from forming a state government,” he said.

Uthayakumar claimed that HRP was forced to take on Pakatan during the upcoming general election because its attempts to strike an electoral pact was being ignored.

“Despite several overtures, Pakatan leaders don’t even want to see us. So we are left with no option but to stand against them,” he said.

He noted that while PAS had met HRP officials in October last year, he dismissed the event as a mere public relations exercise.