A POLITICAL FREE FOR ALL

COMMENT BY BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

There is still a vacuum in the Indian political leadership although more Indians have been voted into Parliament and state assemblies after last year’s general election.

THE dramatic resignation of Jerai PKR division chief B. Kalaivanar and 500 members, mostly Indians, is the sign of a problem that has been brewing for a long time.

It came to a head after the PKR ignored the advice of veteran leaders of Kedah PKR and fielded a political novice S. Manikumar, 35, as its candidate for the Bukit Selambau by-election.

Kalaivanar has accused the PKR and its leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of shortcomings that are now familiar to most working class Indians – manipulation of Indian sentiments for votes, giving Indian supporters a raw deal, the Malays in the PKR monopolising all the goodies.

The accusations come as Indians, whose expectations were raised sky high by the Opposition in the months leading to the March 8, 2008 polls, are increasingly feeling that they have been used and discarded.

“What have we got in return for the support we gave them?” is a phrase frequently thrown about whenever grievances are voiced.

This inherent discontent is one reason why so many Indians are contesting as independents in the Bukit Selambau by-election. By fielding Manikumar, Anwar has given ground for the submerged discontent in the community to rise again.

The fact that such discontent are deep also indicate that the Indian leaders in the PKR and DAP have failed to provide the kind of strong and effective leadership to the Tamil masses that they once received from the MIC and its leaders before they too fell out of favour.

“Tamils were used to having a strong and vocal leader speaking up for them and although Indian leaders in Pakatan Rakyat do speak up their voices are weak, submerged and fragmented,” said political commentator Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria.

“They are not able to satisfy them emotionally, intellectually and linguistically,” he said, adding that the “highest” Indian leader in Pakatan, Penang deputy chief minister Dr P. Ramasamy, in fact “abdicated” by announcing he was a leader for all communities.

“There is a major vacuum in Indian political leadership which neither the Pakatan nor the MIC is able to fill and that’s why the Indian political voice is severely fragmented,” he said, giving reasons why eight Indians are standing as independents in Bukit Selambau in addition to the two Indians fielded by Barisan and Pakatan.

It’s a political free-for-all for the Indians after the MIC, which had been the sole representative for a long time, gave way.

The situation is made worse by the jailing of Hindraf leaders under the ISA, the subsequent banning of Hindraf and the gradual fragmentation of the Makkal Sakthi movement.

The PKR and DAP had the opportunity to consolidate and lead the Indian community but they failed for lack of a long-term vision and for not having a dynamic, Tamil-speaking, story-telling, rabble-rousing leader in their ranks.

Although badly injured, the MIC remains the only party that has deep roots in the community, with a network of branches across the country and institutional memory connecting them with the Tamil masses.

But the party has been hit by one scandal after another and suffers from an ageing leadership struggling to reconnect with a new generation of Tamils.

While the Opposition rode on the discontentment to victory and more Indian leaders came to power in Parliament and state assemblies, the Tamils’ grievances and discontent remain unresolved.

While Indians remain divorced with the MIC, there is also growing discontentment with Pakatan’s failure to provide a strong leadership.

It is a situation that has given rise to multiple, fragmented political voices in the community as can be seen in Bukit Selambau with numerous Indian candidates offering to contest.

Under the circumstances, Dr Denison said, the MIC has a chance to re-invent itself, reconnect and unify the fragmented community but it can only be done by a new generation of young and dynamic leaders.

“They have a chance but it comes with a price … a major cleaning up of the stables with incumbents giving way to new faces across the board,” he said. “This is most urgent.”

(The Star Online > Focus Wednesday April 1, 2009)
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