UMNO Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam should “watch his mouth” and not make irrelevant, inaccurate and incendiary statements about Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, an MIC leader warned today.

MIC information chief Thinalan Rajagopalu said Lokman calling BN founding parties MIC and MCA “political baggage” is unacceptable and that it has hurt the feelings of party members.

“Since 1952, MIC has never sidelined BN, which is the successor to the Alliance Party,” Thinalan said in a statement today.

“Whatever the political situation, be it good or bad, we (MIC) have always stood firm with Umno and MCA, and other component parties.

“If it is too burdensome to carry MIC, then talk to the Umno president and bring a resolution to remove MIC from BN.

“Don’t just make cynical statements for cheap publicity,” he added.

Thinalan’s response came after Lokman in a recent interview with Malaysia Gazette alleged that Umno was carrying “baggage”, in reference to MIC and MCA.

He claimed these parties did not contribute to BN’s win in recent times.

Thinalan said Lokman’s words could create unrest among the component parties in BN.

“Lokman’s statement is an attempt to muddy the water. Aren’t MIC and MCA still with BN now?

“Did we demand any positions just to maintain support for BN? Not a single position has been accepted by MIC while Umno has accepted government positions and places in government-linked companies (GLCs) but (Lokman) wants to point his finger at other component parties.

“Until 2007, we (MIC) contributed fully to BN until some Umno actions caused sentiments towards the Indian community to be eroded.

“MIC was labelled a servant of Umno and it did not take any action to correct the situation until Najib Razak became prime minister. Various problems that were overlooked by the government only reached a solution at that time (during Najib’s era).

“Lokman should understand that for MIC and MCA, BN is our family,” Thinalan said.

The MIC info chief also slammed Lokman, claiming a ‘frog’ like him would not understand ‘family bond’.

“It is difficult for us to expect the same family bond from someone who is a former PKR member, and one who was fired.

“We do not jump like frogs or shift our support like Lokman,” he said.

Thinalan said Indians will lose confidence in BN if leaders such as Lokman continue to come up with irrelevant statements. – June 21, 2023.