Would Umno gain if Waytha quits govt?

Indians made up almost 8 per cent of the country’s population. Recently, the police have made an alarming claim that almost 71 per cent of all triad members are Malaysians of Indian origin.

In a 2012 report, the deputy minister of home affairs Lee Chee Leong said that almost 60 per cent of the total prison inmates were Malaysian Indians.

P Uthayakumar, the brother of Deputy Minister P Waythamoorthy and a Hindraf founder, has blamed it on Umno for neglecting and excluding the Indians from the mainstream development. He said that Indians have been denied equal opportunities in jobs, business, education, licences, et cetera that would give them upward mobility opportunities.

Ironically, Uthayakumar is also part of the prison statistics. He is currently serving a jail term of two years and six months after being found guilty of writing a letter of a seditious nature against the government to former British prime minister Gordon Brown six years ago.

Weeks before the 13th general election (GE13) last May, Waythamoorthy pledged his support for Barisan Nasional (BN) after signing a memorandum of understanding with the BN government to improve the economic position of the Indian community. His action had caused a spilt within Hindraf and he was subsequently “sacked” from the faction led by Uthayakumar.

Indian voters are numbered at just 950,000 of the 13.3 million eligible voters. With the support of Waythamoorthy’s Hindraf, BN had expected to lure back some Indian voters and help the coalition to win at least 12 parliamentary seats that have more than 20 per cent Indian voters.

The outcome of the GE13 was a blow to the BN’s hope and a setback for Waythamoorthy’s credibility on his ability to deliver the Indian votes. In sum, BN lost the popular Indian vote to Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The percentage of Indian support for BN declined from 51.1 per cent in 2008 to 45.1per cent in 2013.

BN continued to bleed support in most urban constituencies in Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor. The coalition gained more Indian support only in Kedah (11 per cent) and Pahang (3.1 per cent). It wasn’t Waythamoorthy who had helped BN to win back a convincing number of Indian voters in Kedah. It was the mismanagement of the incumbent PR government led by Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak that did the job.

Understandably, a recent survey by Merdeka Research Center has put enormous pressure on Waythamoorthy and his traction within the Indian community. Fearing his own irrelevance, Waythamoorthy had reacted strongly to the recent shooting of five suspected gang members in Penang and had accused the police of committing an “execution” and not an arrest. He has offered to meet up with the home minister to work together to address the issue of Indian youths’ involvement in crime in a holistic manner.

It is unlikely that Waythamoorthy’s offer is going anywhere. Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has rebuked his criticism against the police and told Waythamoorthy to rejoin the NGO if he continues to question the administration’s action against crime.

Two other Umno ministers, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, have made the same call for Waythamoorthy to leave the government.

Their reactions should be a wake-up call for Waythamoorthy. Interestingly, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak did not leap to his defence. This could be a signal that Waythamoorthy is no longer indispensable because of his inability to help the coalition win more Indian votes in the last general election.

Waythamoorthy is adamant that he will stay in the government to see through the implementation of the BN-Hindraf blueprint. Perhaps Umno should also look at its liaison with Waythamoorthy in a holistic manner.

If Waythamoorthy is forced out of the government, the BN especially Umno is going to be seen as the opportunistic and insincere party in the BN-Hindraf agreement. It may even allow Waythamoorthy to redeem his credibility and rebuild his coalition with his brother, Uthayakumar. The brothers may differ in their method but never in their aim to uplift the community’s socio-economic standards.

Hence, it is mutually important for both BN and Waythamoorthy to keep their liaison alive. The way to do it is to keep Waythamoorthy focused on the BN-Hindraf blueprint and help solve as many Indian-related issues as possible. Making him accountable for the success of the blueprint is the best way to keep Waythamoorthy away from his showmanship.

Khoo Kay Peng is a political analyst and a management consultant. He believes that this nation can only progress with the collective will of its people.