YOURSAY | Merge Indian parties, stop creating new ones

YOURSAY | ’What difference is another party going to make?’

Ramasamy forms new party, says Indians sidelined in multi-racial ones

Apa pun boleh: Why can’t former Penang deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy just join any of the many ethnic Indian parties?

Why did he launch another new Indian party Parti Bersepakat Hak Rakyat Malaysia (Urimai), to fight for Indian rights when there are so many others with the same objective?

Doesn’t Ramasamy realise he is further splitting and diluting the already dwindling Indian votes?

Is it because if he joins any of the others, he won’t become its instant president?

All this bravado “We are a multiracial party, anyone can join our party, we will fight for all Malaysians” is meaningless loose talk repeated by Indian leaders to fool Indians.

At the end of the day, there is nothing new about this party compared to the existing ones. It appears as a party wholly and exclusively set up for Ramasamy to be president and the latest in the series splitting the Indians by Indian leaders.

This party has no future in our political landscape dominated by coalition politics that will not function stably without majority support.

The Indian votes will be split and will have no bargaining power.

Ramasamy is wrong. His claim that he would work with anyone who accepts his demands is nothing but ”syok sendiri” rhetoric.

Wasn't this the rhetoric of his decade-long tenure in DAP?

Isn’t this the same rhetoric of MIC in BN, that of Indian politicians in Pakatan Harapan and, for that matter, Indian politicians irrespective of the parties they are aligned to?

Where did it take the Indians? Did any of them, PKR, DAP or Umno that rode on Indian support to power ever deliver on their promises?

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is no different. Did he, upon getting his votes by declaring “anak India anak saya” deliver on his promises?

It is a pity that, veteran Ramasamy who held high positions in DAP and the state government as an Indian leader, has decided to go the way of the run-of-the-mill rogue politician who has no qualms about splitting Indian votes.

This is the undoing of Indians over the decades in their fight against oppression and marginalisation by the Malay-led government.

P Dev Anand Pillai: Isn't this the same thing which P Waytha Moorthy did? Don't we have too many Indian-based parties in Peninsula Malaysia now?

What difference is another party going to make? It is best to become a pressure group instead.

There will be more that can be achieved if one is a pressure group and not a political party.

There is simply no constituency in Malaysia which has an Indian majority.

P Uthayakumar of Hindraf and his brother Waytha Moorthy had already done their research and findings on this long ago after the Indian electorate abandoned their voting trend and began to vote for other parties.

This then led to the first major change in the political landscape of Peninsula Malaysia in 2008.

Now with automatic registration of all those above the age of 18 to become voters, there may be a chance for small race-based parties.

Many have tried before but none have succeeded, so tread carefully, it will be best to become a pressure group which makes the Malay leadership learn to accept the ethnic Indians as Malaysian first before their ethnicity or religion.

Mazhilamani: Of what purpose or benefit is a new Malaysian Indian political party? Most Indians, except for a fractional percentage, are in politics.

The rest only wish to exercise their right to vote once every five years.

If Ramasamy feels that the crowdfunding to pay off the court-ordered settlement to Dr Zakir Naik is a sign of unity amongst Indians and a motivation for his next line of action, the professor is way off his mark.

A good majority of Indians abhor any person or party that demeans or devalues Indian sentiments but at the same time idolise those who do good for the community.

It is for Indians to weigh the value of Ramasamy's contributions. It is not for Ramasamy to assume.

Fair Play: This is the reality as a few of us are likely to see it.

If he couldn’t make changes after serving two terms as deputy chief minister, what makes him think he could do it now? Is he just a whispering sound blowing in the strong wind?

I suppose, by and large, the Indian community are their own worst enemies too.

They only account for less than seven percent of the nation's population.

Within their community, there are at least four sub-communities with their respective languages.

Are they united - from within? Still, I wish him the best of luck.

If nothing else, I suppose he deserves another opportunity to make up for the time he lost. Ramasamy is older now, but is he any wiser?

AnotherGoodYr: I wonder what's so difficult for the Malaysian Indian community to come together and work for the good of their community.

The numbers are small, so why is it so difficult? The Malaysian Chinese community is holding together quite well.

As for the Malay community, only those in PKR and Amanah are on the right track. Umno is hopefully in the process of coming back on track.

The rest are yet to realise that they are off track and will hop on board the right track.

Multi-Racial: If he still got to contest in the last Penang state election and remained as deputy chief minister, he would talk differently.

I hope Indians will be smart enough to know this guy is like most ordinary politicians who only care about their position and not the people they represent.

Just ask him what he has done for the Indians and, more importantly, all Malaysians when he was deputy chief minister.

IndigoToucan1627: Ramasamy should look at the history of Indian political parties formed as offshoots of MIC by disgruntled and out of favour MIC leaders and former leaders. They all ended up as wrecks.

Not a single one succeeded. Although this new party is not an offshoot of MIC but DAP, how will it be different this time?

It also aspires to be multi-racial by saying it would admit other races. What will attract other races to it? Why will they go to Urimai?

SeniorCitizen: Instead of forming yet another party, join an existing one (the best of all the bad, unfortunately!) and diligently, honestly strive for your rights as per our Federal Constitution.

The young Royal Education Award winner Nahvin Muthusamy has made a very brave start. Hats off to him!

Although practically far-fetched thinking in our country now, look at the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and US vice-president Kamala Harris.

They didn't form separate parties to get ahead.

LoveMyCountry: More Indian parties? For what? It just reiterates one important point, that Malaysian Indians cannot even come together to speak with one voice.

Then how can you convince any government to take you seriously?

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