Pro-Harapan group wants Indian PKR rep as S'gor exco

 

A pro-Pakatan Harapan association has expressed hope that an Indian representative from PKR can be made a Selangor executive council member to represent the community's interests.

This is after representatives from the DAP have held the positions for two terms, Dr Sathia Prakash Nadarajan, the chairperson of the Selangor Indian executives association (Peis), told Malaysiakini.

"We hope this time, PKR will be given an executive council position to represent the Indian community in Selangor.

"However, the decision ultimately lies in the hands of the Harapan leadership," said Sathia Prakash (above).

Peis is an organisation that comprises Selangor PKR division chiefs of Indian descent. The organisation's patron is caretaker menteri besar Amirudin Shari.

It is worth noting that out of the 22 PKR divisions in Selangor, eight of them are led by Indians.

After the 12th general election in 2008, former PKR leader Dr Xavier Jayakumar was appointed as an exco member when the then Pakatan Rakyat formed the state government for the first time in Selangor.

In the following general election in 2013, DAP's V Ganabatirau was appointed to replace Jayakumar and he held the position until the last term.

In the recently concluded state elections, Ganabatirau did not defend the Kota Kemuning state seat, as he wanted to focus on his duty as the Klang MP.

'Be fair to PKR Indian reps'

Elaborating, Sathya Prakash, who is also PKR deputy secretary-general, hoped the Harapan leadership will be fair towards PKR leaders of Indian descent.

"There are Indian representatives from DAP in Penang. Before this, the Negeri Sembilan administration also had two Indian representatives from the party.

"Therefore, it is only fair for Selangor to get an Indian executive council representative from PKR this time," he said.

Yesterday, Amirudin said the Selangor palace will announce the appointment of the Selangor menteri besar soon.

He said his audience with the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah yesterday afternoon was to brief the ruler on current developments in the state.

The Harapan-BN coalition won 34 out of 56 seats in the Selangor state assembly in the recently concluded state elections.

Four Indian representatives from Harapan won or retained their seats in the state polls, namely Rajiv Rishyakaran (DAP-Bukit Gasing), Preakas Sampunathan (DAP-Kota Kemuning), Papparaidu Veraman (DAP-Banting), and Gunaraj George (PKR-Sentosa). - Mkini