Where should Makkal Sakthi be headed to?
By Tay Tian Yan (Sin Chew Daily)
The release of five Hidraf leaders has been the common aspiration of the Indian community as well as Makkal Sakthi supporters.
Nonetheless, even with these core Hindraf leaders stepping out of the Kamunting detention camp, the morale of Hindraf has not been remarkably boosted. Instead, we have seen splits beginning to emerge from within the movement, with signs of widening into bigger cracks.
There have been people within the organisation who are eager to set up a new political party with the Makkal Sakthi namesake and logo.
This new political party, the Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party, has been established by Thanenthiran, the party's pro tem chairman. Thanenthiran is also Hindraf's national chief coordinator.
Interestingly:
– Uthayakumar, Hindraf's founder and supreme spiritual leader, who has been detained for the longest and who the government says is the most recalcitrant, has not joined the new party, or participated in the forming of this party.
– The registration of the new party was approved by the registry of associations within only one month. From past experiences, a new political party would have to wait for years (or forever) before it could get registered. As if that is not enough, Hindraf has always been an illegal outfit at least in the official records.
Coincidentally, Hindraf is the organisation BN abhors most, while Makkal Sakthi represents a voice the government is most unhappy with. The almost hindrance-free establishment of this party seems to denote the "blessings" of certain people.
It won't be hard therefore to guess which way will the new political party lean towards–BN or Pakatan–in the future.
There is this saying, if you cannot fight it, join it.
In the context of Malaysian politics, if you cannot fight it, then split it up. This model works perfectly well from peninsular Malaysia across to Sabah and Sarawak.
But without the leadership of Uthayakumar and other core leaders, this new party may not create waves even if it shouts the Makkal Sakthi slogans.
Judging from Uthayakumar's characters, it is highly unlikely for him to work with BN, but he is also not contented with the treatment accorded by Pakatan either.
Uthayakumar and many other Hindraf leaders are of the opinion that Pakatan Rakyat has harvested the fruit of Hindraf at the expense of these jailed leaders.
Moreover, they are also worried that being too close to Pakatan could drive the Indians towards Pakatan, which will result in eroded influence of Hindraf.
On the other hand, Uthayakumar went to a Hindu temple to shed his hair, refused to report to Kamunting and challenged the police to arrest him again, protruding only his own personal heroic stature, while other ISA detainees have not done anything similar in coordination with his move.
Uthayakumar's future move is yet to be known. He is still evaluating the situation to pave the way for his future.
Hindraf used to bring under its roof many ethnic Indian grassroot elites and much of the dissatisfaction and common understanding among Indian Malaysians. That explains why it has managed to explode with such awful energy. That said, this organisation is in the process of splitting up, and its enormous energy may as well be disintegrating progressively. (By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)
