Hindraf's claims that the Malaysian Indian community are being ethnically cleansed by the ruling BN coalition is “exaggerated”, and could “erode public sympathy” for the NGO's legitimate cause, according to a leaked US embassy cable dated December 2007.
“The small NGO Hindraf has unquestionably succeeded in dramatically raising awareness of ethnic Indian grievances through the November 25 (2007) demonstration.
The cable, sent to the US State Department on Dec 16 a few weeks after the massive Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2007, gave a post rally assessment that concluded that Hindraf members did not “appear to have a coherent strategy” and could lead to a potential “backlash”.
While noting that the rally had provoked resentment amongst certain quarters amongst the Malays and calls for “Malay street demonstrations to reiterate Malay supremacy” the blame, it said, lay in the government's tough stand and heavy handed action against Hindraf that it said could backfire on the BN.
BN partners spooked
The cable also revealed that the rally had an impact within the BN, with second largest coalition partner MCA refusing to swap seats with MIC for fear that the rally had affected Indian support for coalition.
“Where once the large majority of Indians were assured of supporting MIC and other National Front (BN) candidates, coalition partners can no longer depend on Indian swing votes in tight races.
“In one instance, MCA reportedly refused to trade constituencies with an MIC parliamentarian in recent seat allocation negotiations because the high number of Indian voters in the district threatened any BN candidate that would run,” read the cable.
The cable also cited an advisor to then PM Abdullah Badawi revealing that the premier had mulled giving a second ministerial post to an Indian in the future, “so that Indians are no longer solely represented in the cabinet by MIC”.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who took over the post from Abdullah after BN's disastrous outing at the 2008 GE, has recently done the same by giving a ministerial post to MIC chief G Palanivel in what critics called a feeble attempt to regain the support of the Indian community.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.