LETTER | Ramasamy's exit will be keenly felt among Malaysian Indians

LETTER | The DAP lost one of its highly respected Indian leaders when it decided to drop 3-term Perai Assemblyperson and Deputy Chief Minister II, P Ramasamy, from contesting in the upcoming state elections.

It is a significant blow to the Indian community nationwide who relied on him to bring up community-related issues.

He was a former academic with profound comprehensive and analytical knowledge about the problems faced by Indians.

There is hardly any other Indian leader in the MIC or other parties who can rival or measure up to him when speaking about what the government needs to do to uplift people with low incomes in the community.

It will be a significant loss and keenly felt when there is no equally good replacement leader, especially when the Federal government has an agenda to help the Indian community.

The community had also lost another leader when the DAP dropped Charles Santiago for GE15.

The former Klang MP is now devoting more efforts to communitarian issues.

The DAP should not be faulted as being racist when it decided to drop Ramasamy and other Indians as many from the community have been given safe seats in Penang, Selangor and other states.

One must appreciate the Chinese community who support the DAP for also helping the Indian candidates win.

It was also the same in BN when most of the MIC candidates won due to help from Umno supporters.

There was, and there is no state or parliamentary constituency with an Indian majority in the country.

One can expect both the Malay and Chinese to continue helping out Indian candidates in the currently highly charged political scenario. This is how the multi-racial goodwill has been built up since Merdeka under our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Presently, the demographics and dynamics have changed a little.

Still, overall there are no strong racist feelings among Malaysian voters unlike some politicians and leaders who rant against one another on a wide variety of reasons and issues.

It appears that Ramasamy was caught unawares.

The DAP could have asked him to continue as the MP if it intended to replace him in the Penang Assembly.

It must be noted here that Ramasamy defeated the popular and diligent former Penang chief minister Koh Tsu Koon to win the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat in 2008 to begin a promising political career.

He could have easily won a Parliamentary seat in GE15, and as a DAP MP he could have used this platform to voice out the needs of Indians and provide much feedback and input to the Anwar administration.

He could have been made a cabinet minister or a deputy in the PMX Madani government as he is fully qualified for such responsible positions.

It is hoped that the Professor will continue championing the rights of Indians in whatever way he can, which will assist the government in formulating effective and progressive programmes for the upliftment and transformation of the Indian community.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.