More discontent within BN

The People’s Progressive Party, which lost all seats it contested in the elections, is unhappy to be working from a “platform of emptiness” in Johor

PETALING JAYA: The Johor chapter of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) today appealed for  the BN to provide it with one senator post and 10 councillor posts, amid discontent within the party at being sidelined by the ruling coalition.

“PPP Johor, though works dedicately (sic) for Barisan Nasional, we seem to be working from a platform of emptiness,” said its chairman Dr S Sivakumar today.

“Barisan Nasional has not given us any recognisable posts for us to work confidently and approach the electorate with more strength.”

The PPP contested the Kepong parliamentary and four state seats in the 13th General Election but failed to win a single seat.

DAP’s Tan Seng Giaw slaughtered PPP’s Chandrakumanan Arumugam in Kepong by a majority of 40,307 votes.

PPP was similarly decimated in the 12th General Election. Yet its president, M Kayveas, was made a senator in 2008 after losing his Taiping parliamentary seat, and was subsequently made Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s department.

But this time around, no PPP member was appointed as senator and made it to the Cabinet, and this has frustrated the party in Johor, which feels it had worked hard to amass grassroot support for BN there.

“Prior to the 13th General Election on May 5, 2013, PPP Johor had mobilised all PPP members and workers to work on the ground level  to seek support for a Barisan Nasional victory.

“Johor PPP, with 23 divisions and 53,000 members did their work well. As always, PPP members are disciplined and approach the people with dignity and respect. All Malaysians are fully aware of this,” said Sivakumar.

‘Johorians unhappy with govt policies’

He said the party needed the positions to recapture the confidence of voters in Johor, whom he claimed were unhappy with government policies there.

“As we worked on the ground during campaigns prior to [GE13] we can conclude that Malaysian of all races are to certain extent unsatisfied with government policies and treated differently,” said Sivakumar.

He said that while Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had announced a slew of projects for the people’s betterment, ensuring that these schemes reached the people posed a real challenge.

Indians in Johor were particularly affected, claimed Sivakumar, pointing out they were unable to work in either the civil service nor government-aided private companies.

“They still struggle for business opportunities.  Though many business loans schemes are announced for Indian entrepreneurs, in actual fact, even if they possess the requirements, they do not get the loans.

“Tens of thousands of Malaysians are commuting daily to Singapore to work. Many leave as early as 3 in morning  and return after work late at night. What do we do for them?”

He said there were many other issues PPP and BN must tackle to gain the support of the voters in the next general election, which he suggested may be “The Tusnami of Youth”.

“We appeal to Barisan Nasional to consider our request [for senatorsip and councilor positions] more seriously, as PPP Johor is faced with more challenges to recapture the confidence of Voters.

“We trust Prime Minister will consider our requests, to continue our struggle for the people. Johor PPP will make a decision based on the outcome of our requests for senator and councillors’ seats.

‘No Chinese Tsunami’

Sivakumar also slammed  the BN for calling the 13th general election a “Chinese Tsunami”, noting that the Johor state party boasts more than 5,000 staunch Chinese supporters.

On election night, Najib had described the election results as a “Chinese Tsunami”, although analysts had later refuted this by insisting that the polls reflect an urban-rural divide.

Umno-owned newspaper Utusan had played on this the following day with a headline on its front page that read “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?), courting fury from the masses.

But Najib had reportedly defended the paper, and insisted the coalition’s own study contradicted claims that BN was favoured only in rural Malaysia.

“Talk that the Chinese voters had largely supported the opposition and to call this phenomena as ‘Chinese Tsunami” is unacceptable and absurd,” said Sivakumar today.

“Even after 56 years of administration to unite all the races as Malaysians, and recently with ‘1Malaysia’, our mental state still seems to be centred on racial undertone.

“Such thoughts should not have occurred to us at all,” said Sivakumar.