Don’t field ‘racist’ Tan, Pakatan told

DAP’s Teluk Datuk rep denies the allegation and says his accuser lies about being a PKR branch leader.

PETALING JAYA: A politician claiming to represent PKR today told Pakatan Rakyat to remove Teluk Datuk state assemblyman Philip Tan (photo) of DAP from its list of election candidates, accusing him of displaying a racist attitude.

V John Paramasivam, who identified himself as chairman of PKR’s Taman Seri branch, said Tan had not acknowledged the contribution of Indians to his 2008 election campaign and was interested only in pleasing his Chinese constituents.

Tan has denied the allegation and accused Paramasivam of misrepresenting himself.

“Paramasivam is a jobless man and is no longer with PKR,” he told FMT. “I am sure he is part of a scheme out to sabotage me.”

Paramasivam, who hails from Kuala Langat, also claimed to be an Indian community leader. He told a press conference here that Indian voters in Teluk Datuk would not support Tan in the 13th general election.

“He has never appreciated the assistance rendered by the Indian community during the last general election,” he said.

“There were no Indian members in DAP in 2007. We were the ones who helped his campaign, and yet today he claims that he does not know me.

“He has been disregarding the Indians and the Malays.

“For example, he did not bother to put up banners wishing Happy Deepavali or Selamat Hari Raya. But the case is different for Chinese New Year. A banner hangs on almost every pole in the town.”

Paramasivam also alleged that Tan had been rude to his constituents.

“On Sunday night, during a Chinese New Year open house function that he hosted, he simply threw ang pow packets and let the public pick them up from the floor.”

‘Allegations baseless’
Paramasivam said it would be a mistake for DAP to field Tan again as an election candidate because he had not appointed an aide to manage Indian voters in Teluk Datuk.

“Ever since 2008, Tan has not even had a special officer to represent the interest of the local Indian community,” he said.

Tan was also lax in distributing state aid, he added.

“The state government provides assistance for poor students by giving out free school bags. He only distributed them this month even though the new school session began last month.”

Tan told FMT Paramasivam’s allegations were baseless.

“Up to 70% of people who come to my two service centres are Indians,” he said. “For the past four years, I have even been giving my personal annual allocation of RM10,000 to a Hindu temple. Even the Chinese temples here don’t get that much.”

He questioned Paramasivam’s motive in raising the issue in Petaling Jaya instead of in Teluk Datuk. “Maybe he is afraid that my supporters from the Indian community would dispute his statement.”

Tan also rejected the charge of rudeness. He said Paramasivam was probably referring to an event in Sungai Sedu, “my last programme on Sunday”.

“A guy dressed as the God of Wealth threw up the packets before I arrived at the place,” he said. “I personally handed over 300 plus ang pows to my constituents there.”

Tan said Paramasivam spoke falsely about his not having an assistant from the Indian community.

He claimed that he took in a person named Nathan in 2008 and that the latter was still helping him serve his Indian constituents.

He also rejected the allegations regarding the Chinese New Year banners.

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