'Another salvo at Pakatan manifesto', Free Malaysia Today, 14 March 2013

Another salvo at Pakatan manifesto |   An associate professor of Universiti Sains Malaysia says that Pakatan Rakyat is treating Indians as second-class citizens.   GEORGE TOWN: A university don has joined the chorus belittling the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto for not taking on Indian issues. Associate Professor Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) said he was convinced that Pakatan was treating the community as a stepchild when its original manifesto only featured issues of other communities, but not those of Indians. Only after much criticism did the Pakatan de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim backtracked to give lip service that Pakatan would absorb some Indian issues in a “revised second manifesto”. He, however, asked why Pakatan failed to address Indian issues in its first manifesto, which featured issues pertaining to Malays, Chinese, Orang Asal and natives of Sabah and Sarawak. “Pakatan neglected and ignored Indians because the so-called government-in-waiting saw Indians as second-class citizens and stepchildren, and not significant in vote leverage. “Anwar reluctantly gave lip service to include second-class Indians in a second manifesto, not the first one, due to community pressure,” Sivamurugan told FMT here today. He said another reason for Pakatan to marginalise the community could be that its leaders were confident that majority Indians would blindly vote for the coalition, like they did in 2008. “This could be right in urban areas due to prevailing anti-establishment mood among Indian voters. “But not in rural areas where Indians would weigh all the pros and cons before casting their votes,” he said. He recalled that the opposition block capitalised on and hugely benefited from an Indian political uprising inspired by Hindraf in 2008 general election. Five-year blueprint During the election and thereafter, he said Indian issues have featured dominantly in the nation’s political scene, reminding the opposition leaders that their “Makkal Sakti” battle cry in 2008 was still ringing in the ears of many Indians. Moreover, he said Anwar undoubtedly should have known first-hand about Indian problems given his Umno and governmental experience for nearly two decades. He noted that Hindraf had also tabled its five-year blueprint for ethnic Indians in various recent meetings with Pakatan. “How come Anwar and company did not know anything about Indians issues until today? “But, if it is true that only now they are getting to know about the issues, it clearly shows that Pakatan leaders, including its Indian represensatives, never bothered about Indians all these while,” said Sivamurugan. Compared with Pakatan, Sivamurugan said Barisan Nasional under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak seemed to have learnt its lessons on Indians. Since the last election, he said Najib’s administration had spent millions for various development programmes for Indians, including for Tamil education and Hindu religious growth. He pointed out that some RM500 million had been spent to carry out infrastructure development programme for 250 Tamil schools across the country.