Indian community gives Pakatan and BN mixed reviews

The last general election saw the Indian community give a wake-up call to BN by handing over more votes to the opposing Pakatan Rakyat.

Two years down the road, community leaders are divided over the performance of both political coalitions.

Federation of Malaysian Indians Organisation (Prima) president, A Rajaretinam, said it was good that both political coalitions are currently competing to grab Indian votes.

"Promises by BN are being delivered after they realised the shift in Indian votes," he said, citing business loans as an example.

However he felt there were not that much changes at the grassroots level, and that it was still too early to compare between BN and Pakatan.

The Coalition of Malaysian Indian Non-Government Organisations (COMIN) chief, A Vaithilingam (right), was happy with the competition between the coalitions in addressing the issues of the community.

He said it was like a soccer match in which both teams had to bring out their best in order to win.

Room to improve

However, Malaysia Hindu Youth Council leader, K Rasaselvan, did not share Vaithilingam's sentiments.

He gave a thumbs down to both BN and Pakatan, saying that Pakatan only gave aid to pro-Pakatan NGOs whereas BN does not even provide grants. He also complained about the low civil service intake from the Indian community.

Embattled Makkal Sakthi party president, RS Thanenthiran (left), is happy with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's plans for the upliftment of the Indian community. The former Hindraf national coordinator also chided Pakatan Rakyat over their unkept promises.

"Pakatan has made no changes for the Indian community. They have only promises that have yet to be delivered," he said citing the Kampung Buah Pala controversy as an example.

Kampung Buah Pala became a thorny issue for the Pakatan government in Penang as it failed to stop a redevelopment project that wiped out the village.

He added that Pakatan did not give opportunities for Indians to lead state government agencies whereas BN has introduced more loan opportunities such as the Tekun scheme for the Indian business community.

Hindraf activist, K Vasanthakumar, believed that time is needed for Pakatan to enable Indians to realise their dreams.

He felt, considering the short time they have been in power, they have delivered. But it still had a long way to go to fulfill the aspirations of the Indian community.

courtesy of Malaysiakini