INDIANS, who felt that they were sidelined during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s years, said they are willing to look over his past misdeeds and to a new government, even if they are not convinced that the former prime minister has turned a new leaf.

Those met at a dialogue with the Pakatan Harapan chairman, organised by Indian rights group Hindraf, last night said they could accept him as prime minister again if the opposition pact takes over the federal government in the 14th general election.

Dr Mahathir, 92, who is the PH candidate for prime minister, has been accused of neglecting the Indian community during his 22 years in power.

Last night, he sought to explain himself by firstly, acknowledging that poorer Indians did get left behind but said the fault lies with MIC, the Barisan Nasional component party representing the community.

During the session, Dr Mahathir answered questions on the community’s welfare and said MIC mismanaged allocations to Indians besides not raising the problems which needed to be addressed.

Retiree S. Muniandy said even though he found Dr Mahathir’s explanation unconvincing, he believes the Bersatu chairman is a changed man now. 

“He could have been more convincing. But he showed some positive signs. The thing was, MIC did not tell him (the problems). 

“He is not the Tun of several years ago. He is a changed man. He wants to do the right thing for this country,” he told The Malaysian Insight later.

Former lawyer Shanmugam agreed that MIC is partly to be blamed for the Indians’ problems and marginalisation.

“(Dr Mahathir) explained it quite well. Our stakeholders are weak. I think what he is saying is truthful.

“We can see (what) MIC has done for the Indians. We can’t say the allocations had not been given. (Rather) they were misused.”

Shanmugam said although he did not believe Dr Mahathir “100%”, the latter appears patriotic enough to save the nation. 

Making Hindraf a strategic partner of PH would also be a good move to win Indian votes in rural and semi-rural areas, the lawyer said.

“Hindraf as a strategic partner can reach out to Indians in semi-rural and rural seats. 

“PH is urban-based, their Indian leaders are mostly elitist. The swing votes will come from the rural Indians. That is where Hindraf plays a role.”

For law student V. Logeshn, 24, Dr Mahathir’s past deeds – whether good or bad – must not be considered now as the focus is on the future of the country.

“We do not need to talk about the past, let’s look at the future. He (Dr Mahathir) is the most capable candidate around,” he said.

If Dr Mahathir becomes prime minister again, he must pledge to return all Indian rights, said retired banker Sunder Kumar.

For the 60-year-old, these rights are a quota system for Indians in universities, civil service and the armed forces. 

PH’s choice of Dr Mahathir as its prime minister candidate has drawn mixed reactions since the decision was announced in January because of his authoritarian rule and cronyism in Umno and businesses that took place under his administration.

Among Chinese, political analysts expect a drop of between 5% and 10% of votes for PH because of his leadership, although a majority of Chinese would still back the opposition.

As far as the Malay vote is concerned, PH believes Dr Mahathir and his party Bersatu are the coalition’s best strategy to wrest rural Malay votes from Umno.

In wooing the Indian vote, Dr Mahathir has said he considered groups like Hindraf and another ethnic Indian party, the Minority Rights Action Party (Mira), as strategic partners.

The Indian community’s problems during his rule, however, have been used against him, with Prime Minister Najib Razak saying that he has done more for the community in the eight years since he came to power in 2009, compared with Dr Mahathir. – March 15, 2018.