"The Indian community is the most divided, on several fronts, and calls by disgruntled politicians for more Indian political parties do not make sense." wrote a commentator in news portal Free Malaysia Today.
"Anwar should know better that what the community actually needs is not more political parties but government action to lift the community out of the doldrums. For one thing, he can direct the Public Services Commission to employ more Indians."
Indeed, perhaps what the Indian community, and the Chinese too, need are jobs and to be assimilated much better than they are now into the national employment system - much more than new political parties to squabble and ostensibly fight in their name while surreptitiously digging for riches for themselves.
Over the weekend, the businessman P Thiagarajan who is is also a former MIC leader more popularly known as Ohms Thiagarajan, said the MIC had become obsolete and as such a new political party was needed to represent the community.
"What is shocking is that he claims that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has given his blessings for a new party, although the Prime Minister’s Office has since denied this,"
Indians make up slightly more than 6% of Malaysia’s 33 million population, down from 10% about 50 years ago. The figure is expected to drop further, going by birth rate factors in Indian families.
DUMB IDEA
Other commentators bluntly called it a "dumb idea".
They also questioned Anwar's motives in the proposal. What could he get out of it? What did he hope to get out of it? To help the Indians stay out of poverty or to give himself a silly, vain and meaningless image of a 'father figure' to all the races in the country?
Actually, this harks back to the time when disgraced ex-prime minister Najib Razak was said to have helped the Makkal Sakti party get off the ground in a bid to dilute the influence of the Hindraf activist movement on Indian voters.
That turned out to be a colossal failure as Makkal Sakti not only flopped on its promises but almost disintegrated itself with a massive, drama-filled and noisy internal power struggle.
DON'T LIE, ANWAR - WE KNOW WHERE YOU STAND!
Already, no one in the country does not know "Anwar’s apron is tied to the Islamist gallery in the country."
"This factor severely limits his ability to be the transformative leader Indian Malaysians have previously seen him," wrote a report in Malaysiakini.
"How then could a new Indian political party, that is consultative with him, be effective in alleviating the plight of Malaysian Indians?"
Indeed, jobs, special subsidies, social safety nets and greater education opportunities will help the Indians much more.
"Many who aspired to join the police and armed forces but had been unable to do so because of unwritten quotas. Government service is one area but Indians also need more places in public colleges and universities especially in critical courses," wrote Free Malaysia Today.
"Most importantly, they need help for more business opportunities and grants which the Indian representatives in the last few governments had failed to implement. What happened was that funds meant for the community via Mitra were siphoned off."
Additionally, Anwar’s unity government already 11 Indian MPs from DAP, PKR and MIC in the current Parliament.
Can’t they speak up for the community? Or does Anwar have a motive of his own?
Politics Now!
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