Indian voters: PKR shoos, Najib woos

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat is losing support among the Indian community and this is because of PKR, said the party's former deputy secretary-general PS Jenapala.“There is no need for an analysis (on this matter), it's clear that Pakatan is losing Indian support because of PKR,” he told FMT.Jenapala, who now heads the Indian Justice Party, pointed out that in by-elections held in Hulu Selangor (Selangor), Bagan Pinang (Negeri Sembilan), Tenang (Johor) and Merlimau (Malacca), Indian votes played a big role in securing victory for Barisan Nasional.

According to him, the main reason why PKR had lost Indian support was because the party refused to take care of the plight of the community."People are fed-up with PKR. Internal problems, grassroots leaders being neglected, not recognising the Human Rights Party and party leaders jumping ship. The people have grown tired of PKR,” he said.
"The party has Indian leaders who are not fluent in Tamil, but have huge egos. These leaders don't address the issues affecting their community because they are afraid. In Pakatan, there is not a single Indian leader on par with Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng," he added.Jenapala also noted that the alleged shortcomings in Selangor with regard to the Pakatan state government handling the woes of Indians were also a major factor.

“The way Selangor is governed shows that PKR is a party which has the soul of Umno. For example, only three Indian students were given education loans, while 1,500 loans were given to Malay students,” he claimed.The IJP leader added that the state government had also refused to allocate land for Tamil schools, while less than 1% of the state's budget had been earmarked for Indians.

Najib pressing the right buttons

On the other hand, Jenapala said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was pressing all the right buttons to woo Indian voters.While MIC had failed to win their hearts and minds, he said, the BN chairman was certainly doing it.“Look at the 1Malaysia concept. Although it does not live up to its slogan of 'people first, performance now, it has however reached every corner of the country, everyone knows it.

"That's the success of BN, backed by powerful state machineries. They have learnt from their mistake in the 2008 general election.“Pakatan did well in the last election because the people were angry with BN, not because they liked the opposition,” he added.

However, Jenapala warned that throwing blind support behind BN could also prove detrimental for the Indian community.

No Samy, no ammo

Meanhwile, MIC veteran KP Samy also agreed that Pakatan was losing Indian support.In 2008, he said, the Indians voted against BN primarily because they were angry with MIC and its former president S Samy Vellu.“But with Samy Vellu gone, the new MIC leadership under G Palanivel is making things better. Furthermore, without Samy Vellu, the opposition has nobody to attack now.

“I feel that DAP's Indian leaders are more popular than those in PKR, so the young Indians are looking at the possibility of joining DAP,” he said.A PKR insider told FMT that the “Indian section”, the internal term used for Indian leaders in the party, were not weak but rather staging a “silent protest” against the leadership.

“The problem started with the appointment of lawyer N Surendran as the new vice-president. We know he is 'clean' but the fact is, he is not a politician and was parachuted into a top post,” he said, adding that Surendran did not possess grassroots support.


Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/01/indian-voters-pkr-shoos-najib-woos/