MIC president: Waytha's new party will carve into Harapan's support, not ours

MIC president SA Vigneswaran said he does not think the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waythamoorthy’s new party Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) is a threat to the opposition as it would instead carve into the supporter base of Pakatan Harapan.

“I don’t think they will be a direct competitor… the competition should be within (Harapan), PKR, DAP and MAP.

“The truth is, I think the people who are going to be threatened are the people in the government.

“The opposition is not being threatened at all, because we are now in the opposition for about a year and our members are still there,” Vigneswaran said when asked by Malaysiakini whether he is worried about MAP becoming a direct competitor to MIC.

He also jokingly said with a laugh, “A lot of people already say that MIC has no relevance, so what’s the problem? There is no problem.”

However, he does not believe Waythamoorthy’s (above) new party can effectively cater to the Indian people right now as it does not have the right “framework” yet.

“By the time he builds the framework, I think his senatorship will be over,” he said.

Despite that, Vigneswaran said it is good there is now a party that represents the Indian community led by someone from the Pakatan Harapan government.

“I want him to have this one party because it will be good if he has the party in Pakatan Harapan. The other parties (in Harapan) do not represent the Indian community.

“Hopefully, anybody who has an Indian issue can go and see an Indian minister who represents the Indians,” he said.

Meanwhile, DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago (above) said Waythamoorthy, as the minister in charge of national unity and social wellbeing, forming a race-based party “sends a wrong message for national unity”.

“He has to decide whether he is a leader of a race, or whether he is a leader of all Malaysians,” he said.

Charles said although it is Waythamoorthy’s right to form a political party, the race-based approach “fundamentally goes against the spirit of Pakatan Harapan”.

“This is because Harapan is moving towards a multi-racial approach… towards resolving the crisis that Malaysians face of poverty, inequality and so on.

“That’s why I think although it is his right to form a political party, I don’t think the country is, at this time, very interested in having a new race-based party,” he said to Malaysiakini.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Bersatu, which is part of the Harapan coalition, is a Malay party.

But he reasoned that Bersatu was formed with the purpose of providing an avenue to Malays, who were not happy with Umno, to join Bersatu, which he described as a reformed Umno.

“The Indians have always had an avenue in DAP and in PKR, and there are also elements in Amanah as well (as) you have Indians in Amanah as well,” he said.

Charles then stressed that though each community, including the Indian community, has its own set of unique problems, Malaysia is moving towards a multi-racial approach.

“If you go just based on race, we haven’t made any fundamental changes in the new Malaysia at all.

“The new Malaysia cannot be troubled by race and religion, which is what some people are promoting, and that is something we have to look at carefully,” he said.

Earlier today, Waythamoorthy announced the formation of MAP to advance the interests of the Indian community.

Sources claim that Waythamoorthy has been keen to establish a political vehicle for himself and his followers.

It is believed that while he has the support of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he does not have a warm relationship with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim. - Mkini