DAP plans roadmap to net Indian support

DAP plans to announce its proposals for the Indian community in Gelang Patah tomorrow, hoping that PKR and PAS will endorse it as a Pakatan blueprint.

PETALING JAYA: DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is expected to announce the party’s blueprint for the Indian community at a ceramah in Gelang Patah tomorrow night.

The blueprint will include DAP’s proposals to uplift the Indian community within the first 100 days of Pakatan Rakyat taking over Putrajaya in the next general election.

“This is a DAP initiative. We hope our Pakatan Rakyat partners PKR and PAS will endorse our blueprint,” said a top DAP leader who wished to remain anonymous.

Lim’s announcement tomorrow is a result of a high profile meeting yesterday in Kuala Lumpur between Lim and several Indian leaders from DAP.

“The meeting was called by Lim who wanted to know why the Indian support was waning for Pakatan.

“We told him that there were several reasons, including the perception that Pakatan had overlooked the Indian community on the whole,” said the leader.

He added that the absence of a plan for the Indian community in Pakatan’s manifesto was a major cause for the community’s displeasure against Pakatan.

“Here we are going to the ground, asking the community not to vote for Barisan Nasional on the premises that they are marginalising the Indians, and then we have the Pakatan manifesto which totally overlooks the community,” he said.

He said Lim was surprised by the issues raised at the meeting and had immediately tasked the Indian leaders in DAP to come up with a blueprint which he will announce in Gelang Patah tomorrow.

Lim is DAP’s candidate for Gelang Patah.

“We are now fighting for time to put together our proposals so that Lim can announce it tomorrow.

“If agreed by our partners in PKR and PAS, we can use this same blueprint in the national level as our grand plan for the Indian community,” said the leader.

Not following the Hindraf line

Another DAP leader privy to the matter told FMT that the proposals in the DAP blueprint would not incorporate the demands made by Hindraf.

“We feel that Hindraf is too demanding and extreme in their blueprint for the community. They seem to have ignored the fact that Malaysia is a multi-racial nation,” the DAP leader said.

He added that while DAP supported Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy’s cause in principle, they however were not in the same boat on matters pertaining to the means of uplifting the Indian community.

“There are certain accepted conditions in the country. We will have to work around that. We can’t be asking for everything suddenly, demanding that all must be done immediately.

“The DAP blueprint will give us a framework which is workable for the Indian community. There are things that can be done in the first 100 days of Pakatan’s rule, if that happens. And then other matters will be pursued as we move along.

“We are determined not to leave the Indian community behind. Lim and the other party leaders know this. And after the announcement tomorrow night, other Pakatan leaders too would know our plan,” he said.

The DAP Indian leaders also realise that there is an urgent need for Pakatan to tackle the slide in the Indian support. They also realise that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been making many concessions to the Indian community, resulting in the community’s support heading back to the BN.

More seats for Indian candidates

On another matter, another DAP leader who attended the meeting with Lim told FMT that they have also sought for more Indian leaders to be placed as candidates in the coming general election.

“In 2008, DAP placed eight Indian candidates for parliamentary seats. Of this we won seven seats, losing only in Cameron Highlands.

“This time around we have asked for more seats and are confident that if given, we would be able to win handsomely,” said the leaders.

Other DAP internal sources told FMT that while the Indian leaders have asked for more seats for this election, the party leadership may even reduce the number to seven.

Among the seats sought by the Indian leaders are two parliamentary seats in Johor, including one in Segamat where MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam is the incumbent. They are also seeking for one parliamentary seat in Kuala Lumpur.

The DAP Indians leaders have identified several young but well known grassroots leaders as their potential candidates, pending the final approval of the party hierarchy.