The emergence of the new Makkal Sakti party, with the blessings of the Barisan Nasional leadership, ushers in a new era of communal politics in this country and spells the end of dominance by the traditional pre-Independence Alliance parties.
PRIME Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launches a new relationship today when he opens the inaugural congress of the newly formed Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party that is headed by former Hindraf national co-ordinator R.S. Thanenthiran.
The budding relationship is a significant milestone for the Indian community because Umno’s relationship with the Tamil masses since the 1950s has been defined through its interaction with the MIC – and only the MIC.
But six decades later, a new relationship is taking shape. This is happening while the old alliance with the MIC remains, albeit fraying at the edges.
As the MIC struggles to remain relevant in a changed political landscape, new players inevitably enter the political stage and they cannot be ignored.
The MIC has played a dominant role in the Alliance – and the expanded Barisan Nasional that replaced it – since the time when Tunku Abdul Rahman joined forces with MIC president Tun V.T. Sambanthan and MCA’s Tun Tan Cheng Lock and went to London for the final Independence talks in May 1957.
That Umno-MIC relationship lasted through Sambanthan’s 18 years as MIC president and continued with his successor Tan Sri V. Manicavasagam and current president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who has been president since 1979.
But under Samy Vellu’s tenure, a whole new generation of Tamils was uprooted from the estates and ended up as urban squatters or suffered marginalisation living in longhouses and competing with millions of foreign workers for unskilled jobs.
These and other grievances led to the birth of Hindraf. The big Nov 25, 2007, protest by the group led to the political tsunami of March 8, 2008, which changed the political landscape of the country.
The Makkal Sakti party was quickly set up and won recognition and got Najib’s blessings within weeks in May this year, indicating that the Government is eager to forge new political relationships.
It wants to connect with new players who probably represent newly unleashed grassroots forces that the tradition-bound, conservative, upper-class MIC is unable to connect with.
Indian support for the MIC has eroded and it is facing an uphill battle reinventing and winning back support, despite often claiming otherwise.
Man of action
The situation for the Barisan is urgent not only because the next general election will come quite soon, but also because Samy Vellu himself has yet to seriously commit himself to leave the stage and allow a new crop of leaders to take shape.
The delay is worrisome and the Barisan has discussed the consequences of the matter numerous times because the Indian votes, although a minority, play a significant kingmaker’s role in about 35 parliamentary constituencies and scores of state seats, especially along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia.
They predominate in key states like Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor.
Najib is not taking chances. He is a man in a hurry. He is not waiting for the MIC to come alongside nor for the Makkal Sakti party to expand and take root.
He has already taken significant independent steps to reconnect with the Indians, giving priority to their needs, from allocating RM100mil for Tamil school development to fixing a RM1bil unit trust quota for the community and hiring more Indians in the civil service.
Another key area is to issue MyKads to stateless Malaysian-born Indians, a problem the civil service has been sitting on for years.
Gaining ground
His policies are beginning to bear fruit and the community, while still smarting at Samy Vellu and the Malay-dominated bureaucracy, is beginning to warm up to Najib as a national leader.
Opinion surveys consistently show that while there is frustration and apprehension with state institutions, at a personal level there is high regard for Najib and the measures he is taking.
The days where the MIC can rightfully claim that it is the “sole representative” of the Indian community and everything and everyone must consult them are over.
There is a multiplicity of voices speaking up for the Indians and that is to be expected after a major political upheaval like the 2008 general election.
Significantly, one does not have to be an Indian to speak up for or represent Indians. Even PAS is doing it.
The arrival of Makkal Sakti Party therefore signals the end of the era of one party claiming sole rights over one community.
The MIC has to learn how to share the political stage. The challenge is for this Independence-era party to find its niche.
As for the Makkal Sakti party, it will be an uphill task to dominate the stage as the MIC had done.
Nevertheless the party, a moderate breakaway of Hindraf, wants to participate in mainstream politics and has big plans for the Indian community. However, it lacks a charismatic leader at its helm.
Its appearance on the political stage, alongside the MIC and others, also helps to prevent extremists from dominating the discourse in the Indian community.
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