“Malaysian Indians: How MIC divided an already fragmented community (Part 1)”

 BASED on indicators, the general election will be held soon. The results of the last four state elections, coupled with the sterling performance of Barisan Nasional (BN), is adding pressure to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to dissolve the Parliament soon.

Some are calling the 15th General Election as the “mother of all elections”. The race between the Government and opposition parties is tight one. This is a make-or-break situation. However, it seems like the mood favours BN.

This election is not like the previous one, where the 14th election only pitted two coalitions against one other – BN and Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan).

This time, Pakatan is severely weakened following Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) defection and the non-committal mood by Parti Warisan Sabah and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air towards the former.

Following its departure from Pakatan, Bersatu has formed a new coalition, Perikatan Nasional (Perikatan) which includes PAS and Gerakan.

As for the regions of Sarawak and Sabah, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) in Sabah hold massive sway among their voters. It will be fascinating to see with whom these coalitions will establish agreements with: BN, Pakatan or Perikatan.

Another element that will influence the outcome of this election is Undi18. It is to note that the four state elections were held with COVID-19 restriction in place, hence, with the borders reopened, the general election will be a very different ballgame altogether.

Now, what I want to address here is the Indian votes. Their votes are important in any election since they can affect the outcome in certain constituencies as seen in the past elections. As a result, Indians must be diligent in vetting the individuals who will represent their interests in this country.

In this article, we will look at the next general election from the eyes of Indians. Despite the fact that Indians constitute one of Malaysia’s three major races, their well-being is has been neglected for decades.

Indians and Malaysia

Indians in our country are feeling marginalised. In 2007, the rally organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) shocked the nation and drew public attention to the community’s discontent.

While we can criticise the Government for the sorry state Indians are in today, the true perpetrators, in my opinion, were the Indian leaders themselves who were more concerned about enriching themselves and their cronies than with improving the welfare of their community.

It also boils down to the community’s failure to remove the corrupt and egotistical Indian leaders in the past. Unfortunately, this pattern still remains.

I have always believed that the present and past Governments’ policies were fair to the community. However, the Indian leaders from the ruling party and little Napoleons within the Government apparatus entrusted with implementing these policies have utterly failed.

The MIC is one of Malaysia’s oldest political parties. It has always claimed to be the defenders of Indian issues. They also successfully prevented other Indian political parties such as the Indian Progressive Front (IPF) from joining BN.

As a result of this attitude, a number of Indian-based political parties were formed, fragmenting the community even further which is already divided by sub-caste and sub-race associations. As a result, the community has become even more polarised.

And the same fate is being shared by many Indian members of multiracial parties like PKR and the DAP. With a population of less than 7%, their collective political voice is becoming less appealing.

MIC was nearly wiped out in the previous general election, winning only the Tapah parliamentary seat. This is owing to the community’s rejection of the party’s leadership style that has been passed down since the late 1970s, centred on themselves rather than the community as a whole.

Even though MIC did well in the recent Johor state election by winning three state seats, this is not really reflective of the voters’ sentiments, particularly Indians.  One of the reasons BN won is due to poor voter turnout as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Therefore, it is better for MIC leaders not get over-confident in their ability to gain significant seats in the upcoming election since voters, particularly Indian voters, are still dissatisfied with the current and previous misdeeds committed by these leaders that have hampered their advancement. – April 10, 2022.

Source: https://focusmalaysia.my/malaysian-indians-how-mic-divided-an-already-fragmented-community-part-1/