Waytha zooms in on Palanivel

Hindraf chief is said to be contemplating taking on the MIC president in Cameron Highlands under the Pakatan banner.

GEORGE TOWN: Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy is said to be contemplating taking on MIC president G Palanivel under the Pakatan Rakyat ticket in Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency in the 13th general election.

Hindraf believes that a battle of two supremos on the hill resort in Pahang would be the right way to tell Indians that ‘MIC must be finished off politically’.

For the majority working class Indians, MIC’s biggest crime was abetting Umno-sponsored systematic marginalisation of their community since independence. Hindraf has been influential in exposing and disseminating information on this.

It’s learnt that Hindraf had suggested to PKR and PAS leaders in recent meetings that the movement wishes to field its candidates against MIC in at least six federal seats.

The constituencies are Tapah in Perak, Hulu Selangor and Kapar in Selangor, Teluk Kemang in Negeri Sembilan, Segamat in Johor and Cameron Highlands.

It’s unclear if Pakatan leaders have agreed to it, but observers believe the coalition had to make concessions to Hindraf, which was instrumental in triggering the political tsunami of 2008.

Strategically Hindraf is seeking the “difficult” federal seats that is either now being held by Barisan Nasional or in places were Pakatan has been predicted to lose its incumbency.

Three other MIC-contested federal seats – Sungai Siput, Kota Raja and Subang, are all being now held by opposition MPs.

Sources said Hindraf was not keen to contest these seats as the human rights group was more determine to battle on the behalf of Pakatan against BN in tough seats.

Palanivel may have thought he had found the safest seat possible in Cameron Highlands to mark his return as an elected representative.

50-50 chance

In 2008, Palanivel lost in Hulu Selangor to PKR’s Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad by a mere 198 votes. And a possible contest against Waythamoorthy, 46, is a battle Palanivel, 63, would not relish.

A battle between the two leaders would somehow be dubbed as a plebiscite on who is the best to lead the Indian Malaysian community into the future.

Cameron Highlands has about 23,000 voters made of Malays 42%, Chinese 33%, Indians 23% and the rest, others.

Hindraf is confident Pakatan would accept that Waythamoorthy as the best winnable candidate to battle in the BN-stronghold.

“With a solid Pakatan backing, Waytha has a 50-50 fighting chance to win in Cameron Highlands,” says insiders.

When contacted however, Waythamoorthy strangely declined comment.

But for Waythamoorthy to battle with Palanivel, political negotiations between Pakatan and Hindraf must first conclude with the desired win-win electoral formula.

Thus far Hindraf had held talks with Pakatan’s Malay-based parties, PKR and PAS. The DAP however, had stayed away from it until now.

Traditionally the DAP had contested Cameron Highlands and lost always.

In 2008, MIC vice-president and federal deputy minister SK Devamany defeated DAP’s Pahang vice-chairman J Apalasamy by 1,186 vote-margin to win the constituency.

Hindraf insiders want Waythamoorthy to contest Cameron Highlands under PKR’s ticket and hoped that PKR would bargain with DAP for a seat exchange to cushion their leader’s electoral debut.

Hindraf crucial to Pakatan

Political observers believe somehow PKR and PAS would programme Pakatan to make seat concessions as the coalition badly needed Hindraf’s backing to regain lost Indian vote bank.

It’s clear that Pakatan leaders have lost hope on their own underperforming Indian representatives to win over the community.

The PAS leadership in its meetings has privately acknowledged that Hindraf’s backing was crucial for Pakatan, especially to help the Islamist party to retain Kedah.

PAS realises that the rice bowl state of Kedah is in danger of falling to Umno-led BN. The party has admitted that Kedah Indians’ support for the PAS-led Pakatan state government had hit a new low since the heyday of 2008.

It was due to the combination of the state government’s underperformance, PAS’ constant bellowing of the Islamic agenda and MIC’s steady penetration into the Indian vote bank.

As much as it desired Hindraf’s backing, PAS feels it has no winnable seats to concede to the civil rights movement given its seats are overwhelmingly Malay-majority seats.

It is learnt that PAS leadership preferred PKR, which holds bulk of mixed constituencies, to make the concessions.

PKR after all would stand to gain from Hindraf’s backing in the quest to retain its political jewel, Selangor, which has about 500,000 Indian voters – the highest in the country.

Without the community’s majority support, observers said the PKR-led Pakatan incumbent state government can kiss good bye to Selangor.

Pundits say that a tie up with Hindraf would boost Pakatan’s chances of regaining Perak, which it lost in a BN coup in 2009, win Negeri Sembilan and perform better in Malacca and Johor.

All these states have sizeable Indian voters, who observers claimed “trust Hindraf more than anyone. A Pakatan-Hindraf tie-up would be vital to knock BN of its Putrajaya perch,” said a commentator.

Observers believe PKR and Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim knows that Hindraf’s backing was crucial and decisive for Pakatan to have a grip on the receding Indian electoral ground.

But, they suggested that Anwar did not want to be seen as desperate for Hindraf’s support in next election. Thus, he is playing the delay game.

Observers cautioned that the Pakatan leadership knows its political mathematics would not tally if Hindraf was not added into the equation.

“Anwar and company will sure make the right decision in the next crucial few months,” was their forecast.