Waytha, the BN waterboy all washed up

The Hindraf chairman and his strategists never did grasp the mechanics of Umno-led Barisan Nasional's political maneuverings

COMMENT

About three months ago, in a piece titled ‘What’s happening to BN-Hindraf MOU?’, I questioned the credibility of P Waythamoorthy and robustly advocated that he should relinquish his post in the government.

I guess he got the message after all, for being made the sole Indian fool in the Prime Minister’s office (PMO).

The Hindraf’s chairman has finally realised that he is better off fighting from outside the ring rather from within the circles of the Putrajaya boys. Prime

Minister Najib Tun Razak, with a stroke of pen, neutered Hindraf and its demands by enticing Waythamoorthy into signing a worthless piece of paper. The fast-drama that unfolded weeks before the 13th general election did not, in spirit, move an inch in meeting a single demand made by Hindraf to the Barisan Nasional government.

On the other extreme we can also speculate that Waythamoorthy was on a course to grab a position for himself with the full knowledge that nothing will materialise, but sufficient for him to snuggle into a comfort zone of the PMO.

But it only lasted until his comrades went public, declaring that he had not achieved anything in the 100 days of signing the ‘mother’ of all important MOUs with Najib.

Of course he could not defend himself when in essence he was being ridiculed by his own trusted men, by making public his impotency in pressuring Najib to honour the MOU.

Anyways, as I had mentioned, why should Najib do so? Will it not send a wrong message to minority groups’ leaders that they can go on a fast and Najib will run after them offering senatorships and other government positions?

Waythamoorthy failed not only as a leader of Hindraf but also shamed the Indian community when he took on the offers from Najib, projecting an image that the Indians can be pacified with crumbs from the powerful wheelers and dealers of Putrajaya.

If he was truly championing the cause of poor and displaced Indians in Malaysia, he should have steadfastly stood his ground and let Hindraf bloom into a formidable force strong enough to tousle BN’s hair.

No doubt, Hindraf did gather some momentum during the 2008 general election and the opposition parasites leached it for their own benefit, but the movement was quickly dismissed as a liability when the opposition pact gained significant seats in parliament.

Waythamoorthy and his strategists in Hindraf should have realised that the socio-economic landscape had a different contour then as compared to 2013.

Stripped to the bone

The very same people in Pakatan ignored calls from Hindraf to sign any document with it prior to GE13 and that itself spoke volumes on how the Indians are looked upon by the opposition.

PKR and Pakatan distanced themselves as they did not want to be perceived as being ‘race-inclined’ political parties. Hindraf got its first tight slap then.

Hindraf lacked patience and wanted ‘instant noodle’ solutions to its woes and merrily but foolishly agreed to shoeshine BN leaders, and to be seen as having achieved its first step in getting its demands met.

Nevertheless, it forgot that in a political arena, those poker faced political parties will always hold on to their winning cards close to their chests.

And that is exactly what Barisan did. And Hindraf earned it well too.

Today, Hindraf stands stripped to the bone in the eyes of the public. Waythamoorthy resigned unceremoniously, without any fasting and fire crackers.

Nothing changed in the equation of their failing agenda. It has fallen flat once again, but this time with severely dented egos and fragmented hopes, if any left, for Hindraf’s relevance in the political scene.

On the contrary, Waythamoorthy’s dismal performance and early exit from the government has only further strengthened the view that making inroads with the Umno-led BN is near impossible with threats.

He may resort to a fasting mode again but I am sure it may well lead to nothing but total self-annihilation of his ‘political’ career.

Hindraf wanted to outgrow itself too fast, but realised that in politics, especially with the BN government, to play with time requires persistence and perseverance.

And no amount of explanation from both Hindraf or Waythamoorthy will be of any good as Najib can always say that Hindraf was impatient and made unrealistic demands and refused to renegotiate.

Well, in politics this is not a far call…