A turning point for Hindraf: Moving over to the BN fold

By Kenny Gan (Suara Keadilan)

After the dust and commotion has settled and the anger and hostility has faded, Kg Buah Pala may well be remembered as the turning point when Hindraf finally moves over to the Barisan Nasional fold.

At a time when Hindraf’s popularity is ebbing and the movement split and floundering, Kg Buah Pala has been a godsend for Waythamoorty and his brother Uthayakumar to boost their flagging popularity.

A non-racial dispute between residents and developers has been blown up into an ugly racial issue by Hindraf and the residents instigated to be uncompromising and hard-nosed in not accepting compensation even though they had all but lost their land with the Federal Court ruling against them.

The Pakatan Rakyat Penang state government and its Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng were crudely attacked by the two Hindraf leaders with unfair accusations and unbecoming words despite doing their best to help the villagers while the real culprits who caused the mess, namely Koh Tsu Koon, Gerakan and Umno were ignored and even protected with exhortations not to blame the previous state government.

The land was quietly transferred to the Penang Government Officers’ Cooperative a mere 19 days after the state government fell to PR by civil servants with vested interests and Waythamoorthy has jumped onto this fact to hold the PR government responsible while making no allowances for reasonable oversight by Lim in the heady and tumultuous days after capturing power and forming the state government.

Lim has emerged as a soft target for Waythamoorthy’s frequent outbursts of abrasive language and vague threats issued from London. He has been accused of being useless and uncaring, shirking his responsibilities and colluding with the developers.

The manner in which this issue has been milked to satiation by Hindraf for political mileage speaks of a clear and ruthless political agenda.

Political Agendas

Faced with the changing political and social environment, Hindraf has pondered its future and decided to turn itself into a political party called PAHAM (Parti Hak Asasi Manusia). The lack of an Indian term in the name could indicate it may be multi-racial but if so, this is academic with Hindraf’s obsession in championing Indian rights only.

Insisting that PAHAM will remain independent is unrealistic as an Indian based political party must latch on to a multi-racial coalition for its political fortunes and this can only be PR or BN.

But PR’s multi-racial politics can never satisfy Hindraf’s demands for special affirmative action for Indians so BN’s race-based politics present a better fit.

It also happens to be the coalition in power which makes it much easier to gravitate to with salient advantages that an opposition coalition can never provide.

The scurrilous attacks on the Penang government and its Chief Minister over the Kg. Buah Pala issue could have been a demonstration of PAHAM’s credentials to BN prior to its launching. A genuine desire to solve the villagers’ problem would not warrant such insulting and aggressive attacks as it is clear that the current Penang government is doing its best to help the villagers within the law.

Being BN friendly is the only way the party can be registered speedily just like the newly registered Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP), another Hindraf political offshoot. The registration of Parti Sosialist Malaysia (PSM) involved a ten years fight through prolonged court cases.

Waythamoorthy may also be trying to prove his worth to BN before his impending return from self-exile in order to mitigate the possibility of arrest. Uthayakumar has successfully managed to get back his passport from the court which is usually compliant towards the government.

The PAHAM game plan is to gather as much Indian support as possible and use it as a bargaining chip to demand concessions from BN. Hindraf  scathing attacks on PR over the Kg Buah Pala affair also serves as a bid to pull Indian support away from PR to their own party.

It is said that in politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Even so, it is sad that the Hindraf leaders have in such a short time forgotten that PR politicians were their friends and had tirelessly highlighted the plight of the Hindraf 5 during their ISA detention.

Political ambitions surface

But there was no real need to form a political party. Hindraf could well remain a pressure group and side with either BN or PR as it sees fit without having to commit itself to either one and be even more effective.

The decision to form a political party indicates that some of the Hindraf leaders have political ambitions beyond helping poor and marginalized Indians.

It is unclear whether PAHAM will be allowed to join BN or just held at arm  length with the bait of membership to keep them friendly just like the tactic used with IPF and MUIP. As there is a BN standing rule that all component parties must agree to a new member, MIC may be a stumbling block.

But being aligned with BN will not be plain sailing. PAHAM’s demand for aggressive affirmative action for Indians could put it into conflict with Umno, MCA and other race-based parties.

If PAHAM’s demands are anything like Hindraf’s 8-point memorandum, it will be given short shrift. Among the extreme demands were an allocation of RM100 billion for Tamil schools over 5 years, RM100 billon for uplifting Indians over 5 years and RM150 billion as compensation for Hindu shrines demolished since Independence.

On top of that, each and every Indian is to be paid compensation to be determined by the United Nations Secretary-General for constitutional violations since Independence. Suffice to say that the country will be bankrupted many times over if these extreme demands are met.

But money is not all that Hindraf wants although it is the dominant demand. Hindraf also wants 20% of the civil service and the government  topmost level posts reserved for Indians and at least 20 Indian opposition MPs although Indians only make up 8% of the population.

A Divided Race

With the formation of PAHAM, the Indians will be split between many political parties including the MIC, Gerakan and PPP in BN, BN friendly IPF, MUIP, MMSP and possibly PAHAM, PKR and DAP in PR and PR friendly PSM.

Divided into so many parties reduces the political voice of the Indians. The same thing was intentionally done to the Dayak in Sarawak by judicious use of the power of the Registrar of Societies but in the Peninsula, Indians have done it to themselves.

If the trend is towards multi-racial parties, this does not matter as political voice will ideally be race-blind and based on social issues, not race. However it does matter for race-based politics which is still the predominant system practiced in BN.

By allowing the registration of MMSP and PAHAM, the Hindraf leaders may well have fallen into the BN trap of racial divide and rule.

Whether PAHAM can be a strong voice for the Indians depends on its ability to pull in Indian grassroot support but support will not be across the board. Many middle class and educated Indians do not agree with the extremist demands and rough tactics of Hindraf.

Nevertheless, PAHAM may be able to attract support from the poor and marginalized Indians, many of whom are easily manipulated with extreme demands and unrealistic promises.

An example is Hindraf’s Nov 2007 rally which was a rally against the British government and promised that each and every Indian will receive RM1 million compensation if Hindraf wins its suit against the British Crown for bringing Indians as indentured labourers to Malaya. This helped to pull in tens of thousands of Indians into the streets although it can only be described as an exercise in deceit.

Hindraf’s surreal 18 points demand is an extension of their strategy to impress poor, marginalized and ignorant Indians with unrealistic demands.

Indians, like other races will also have to choose between the raced-based politics of BN which has failed them for 52 years or the multi-racial politics of PR which promise to implement equitable policies for all races in a sustainable way.

Whether the Indians gravitate towards the multi-racial politics of PR or the race-based politics of BN and PAHAM will depend on their political and social maturity.