WHILE the DAP is dominated by the Chinese, the party has never undermined the values and standings of the other races, including of the Indians, in the party, said P. Ramasamy.

The Penang DAP deputy chairman said the party has always been multiracial.

Hence, he said, there is also no power struggle over who would be the Indian leader in the party.

“Of course, the majority of members of DAP are Chinese, but there is sizable Indian membership, and there are also Malays. But the point here is, despite the Chinese composition, it has always been a multiracial party,” said Ramasamy, who is also the Penang deputy chief minister.

“There are various Indian individuals in DAP and some of them have been in the party for long. So, there is no real power struggle.”

He said the number of Indian representatives in the party, or even in the cabinet, is irrelevant as what is more important is for the leaders to show proper leadership and duty for the community.

“It is not the numbers. You can have the numbers (of representatives in the cabinet) but might not have the voice,” he said.

“What we need is, people who are bold, who can articulate issues because if we look at the Indians, the majority of them are in the working class and that is the group like other minority groups that needs a lot of assistance and governmental support.

“So, in order to highlight this, we need people to bring up issues in the open, raise them in the parliament or state assemblies.”

While the DAP has several Indian leaders, Ramasamy is presently seen as the leader of the group due to his vocal stand on many issues and in his capacity as the deputy chief minister of Penang.

MIC all but gone

Ramasamy said Indian-based MIC has failed to serve the community despite having the opportunity.

He said regardless of how MIC branded itself to face the next general election, the Indians have deserted it long ago.

He was referring to MIC vice-president Sivarraajh Chandran’s recent interview with The Malaysian Insight, who said the party has transformed and vowed to do better in the next general election.

Ramasamy, a long-time critic of MIC, said the party practically has no future in the country as it could not keep up with the likes of the DAP and PKR, who are more multiracial.

“Gone are the days where they (MIC) were like equal partners during the Alliance days,” he said.

“In Barisan Nasional, MIC’s powers and role were reduced and now under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, they only have one ministerial post.

“Frankly speaking, not intending to hurt the feelings, MIC has no future in the country. Indians have no faith in it.”

In the last general election, MIC put up one of the party’s poorest performances, winning only two of nine contested parliamentary seats and three state seats from 18 contested.

M. Saravanan was elected MP for Tapah and Sivarraajh claimed Cameron Highlands.

The mere two-seat haul matched MIC’s worst-ever election result of 1969. To add insult to injury, the Election Court declared Sivarraajh’s victory in Cameron Highlands null and void following proof of corrupt practices during the election.

Umno contested against MIC in the subsequent by-election and won.

Now, MIC’s only parliamentarian is Saravanan, who is also deputy president and the human resources minister under the PN-led government. – April 19, 2021.