AFTER more than three years helming the Madani government, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has finally appointed an Indian Tamil in Datuk Seri R. Ramanan as the Human Resources Minister.
Among the local Tamils, Ramanan has lately acquired the labels as “vanthechee” and “potchee” which are an inappropriate or mispronunciation used in Tamil to describe those who have come back and those who left.
At last Anwar was able to appoint an Indian Tamil, one of the four vice-presidents in his own PKR party.
Remember that Ramanan got elected to this post in opposition to PKR’s former deputy president Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli.
The Sungai Buloh MP was elected because he was on the side of the winning team headed by Nurul Izzah Anwar who is PMX’s eldest daughter.
As such, Ramanan was chosen to be the minister not such much because of his track record in fighting for the rights of the Indian community but he was considered as a “good” and “well-behaved” Indian by Nurul Izzah and Anwar.
In other words, Ramanan is qualified to be an obedient Indian in the eyes of the Malay leaders in PKR and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
Editor’s Note: Ramanan was one of the seven ministers, including two new appointees, and eight new deputy ministers who took their oath of office, allegiance and secrecy today (Dec 17) before His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, at the Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur.
Performing Tamil minister
Do recall nevertheless that Ramanan was a former MIC leader who rose up to the position of treasurer- general. However, he left the party under “mysterious” circumstances. He had even been accused of some alleged malpractices in the past.
Under the PH administration, Ramanan has previously been appointed to head and improve services of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (MITRA).
Unfortunately, the performance of MITRA did not improve. Later, he relinquished the appointment to make way for other community leaders.
Anyway, MITRA which was originally allocated RM100 mill per annum has seen its allocation reduced to less than half the original amount.
The Indian leaders who took charge of MITRA never really fought for increased allocations for the Indian community.
Since Anwar has finally settled the question of an Indian Tamil minister in the Cabinet, the question remains whether Ramanan will be bold enough to perform in terms of uplifting the Indian community.
As I always maintained, the appointment of an Indian Tamil minister is important from a symbolic perspective.
However, I am not sure what really Ramanan can do to bring improvements to the Indian community in the country.
Based on his past experience, there is nothing much Ramanan can do to alter the status quo that is not favourable to the community.
Anyway, I take this opportunity to wish him the best. I have one request though: Ramanan should improve his spoken Tamil – no more “vanthechee” or “potchee”.
David Marshel is the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim deputy chairman.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.
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