Has Najib lost confidence in MIC?

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s appearance at numerous 'Indian' events and function shows he has lost his confidence in the MIC, claim two opposition Indian leaders.

KUALA LUMPUR: Over the last month or so, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been frequenting several events attended by Malaysian Indians and this has started tongues wagging.

Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional chief, is now termed as the de facto president of MIC, which claims to have some 630,000 members, making it the largest Indian-based political party in the country.

Speculation is rife that Najib has taken it upon himself to win the hearts and minds of Indian voters after realising that MIC, which had been tasked to bring back crucial Indian voters to the Barisan Nasional fold, had failed miserably.

Indian voters, who traditionally supported the BN, deserted the ruling coalition at the 2008 general election, which saw the BN lose its long held two-thirds majority in Parliament and also four state governments.

The MIC contested nine parliamentary seats in the polls but only won three parliamentary constituencies. Its president G Palanivel and then party supremo S Samy Vellu both lost their seats in Hulu Selangor and Sungai Siput respectively.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan said Najib’s recent initiatives showed that the prime minister was desperate for Indian votes.

“The Malaysian Indian community was politically awakened after the Hindraf rally in November, 2007. Before the Hindraf rally, the Indian community was taking things for granted… whatever happens, BN will be in power. Now people want to see a change by giving an opportunity for the opposition to take over,” he claimed.

Asked if the Indian electorate had forsaken the opposition pact, made up of PAS, PKR and DAP, based on the low Indian turnout at the recent Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally at Stadium Merdeka, he said fewer Indians at the rally does not reflect on their support for the opposition.

“Fewer Indians at the rally does not mean Indians have left the opposition pact. What BN should fear is the huge turnout of Malay supporters at the rally. At the Bersih rally late last year, there were a lot of Chinese but few turned up for the Stadium Merdeka rally. This does not mean that the Chinese have started supporting the BN within the last two months.”

Seven promises

“As far as Indians are concerned, those who attended Najib’s function are just going to benefit from the goodies and freebies BN throws. But these same people will vote for the opposition. Najib has spent more on Indians than any other prime minister. This is an indication that he has fear of the opposition coming to power,” claimed Arutchelvan.

He said PSM does not predict Indian votes returning to the BN, but the fact that the BN keeps postponing the general election showed that the ruling coalition doubts winning the next GE.

Opposition MP M Kula Segaran, who is also DAP vice-chairman and Ipoh Barat MP, said MIC has forgotten the seven promises made to the Indian community prior to the last general election.

“MIC promised equitable participation in the share market, increased Indian intake at public universities, better employment opportunities, increase in the number of government scholarships, greater access to entrepreneurship training and micro-credit loans, an effective urban poverty eradication programme, and the establishment of a dedicated mechanism to monitor and evaluate the delivery of public sector services in a just and fair manner.

“My advice to Samy Vellu and Palanivel is to ask Najib what he has done on these seven critical issues instead of attacking Pakatan Rakyat and heaping praises on Najib. Samy Vellu may have short memory but the Indian voters will not forget the seven critical issues which he had mentioned.

“Samy Vellu and Palanivel should tell Najib that the BN’slogan ‘Janji DiTepati’ (Promises Fulfilled) would sound hollow if these seven critical issues are not resolved,” said Kulasegaran.

He said BN should be aware that the community played kingmakers at the last election which caused a political tsunami and resulted in BN’s worst election performance todate.