Waytha: Hindraf can deliver 20-30% vote swing among Indians

Hindraf chief happy PH has accepted Hindraf as strategic partner to help wrest marginal seats won by BN in GE13.

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PETALING JAYA: The official acknowledgement by Pakatan Harapan that Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is now a strategic partner has been welcomed by P Waythamoorthy.

The Hindraf chairman said it would pave the way to greater cooperation, promising that the grassroots campaign by Hindraf cadres and leaders will ensure victory for PH candidates in the 14th general election (GE14).

“Hindraf looks forward to a new and historic partnership that would see the downfall of the Barisan Nasional regime now that all stakeholders are part of this grand coalition,” Waythamoorthy said in a statement today referring to the announcement by PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Yesterday, Mahathir said PH had accepted Hindraf and the New Generation Party as its strategic partners to assist the coalition during the general election.

“They have shown interest to cooperate with us but we already have four parties and it may reduce any distribution (of seats) if they join in.

“So, we need to find a place for them and give special treatment,” he said.

Waythamoorthy recalled how Hindraf had spoken to PH last year and volunteered to assist PH candidates win in 31 parliamentary and 59 state seats which were won with small vote majorities by BN in the last general election.

“We based our analysis on the assumption the election boundaries will remain the same, and the support of Malay and Chinese voters will remain the same.

“With Hindraf moving the working-class Indian votes to PH, this will see an additional 20%-30% Indian vote swing on top of the already existing 45%-55% Indian base support for the opposition,” he said.

“Hindraf can play a major role in ensuring seats are won handsomely by PH parties in the next general election as we have a large following among rural voters in Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.”

Waythamoorthy added that these Indian voters lacked Indian representation and see Hindraf as their voice in the new coalition.

“We can assure Malaysian Indians that Hindraf has a proven record of representing the Indians on crucial issues of socio-economic development of former estate workers and those from the lower-income B40 group.

“We are also optimistic that should PH take over Putrajaya, Hindraf would impress upon them to make changes and formulate policies at the national level to bring all marginalised communities into the mainstream economy and ensure none are left behind in the country’s development.”

He added that specific and focused programmes will be planned to solve certain chronic issues like displacement, poverty and crime.

“We will ensure the civil servants implement decisions taken by the government to assist those from the B40 low-income group, unlike the current BN which only employs the ‘cari makan’ NGOs and MIC politicians, who milk the only few programmes initiated by the government.” -FMT