Pakatan has lost touch with grassroots Indians

By Athi Shankar, FMT

In the aftermath of the Hulu Selangor by-election and the many views expressed, the single most pertinent fact is that Pakatan Rakyat has lost its highly underestimated baseline support – the Indians.

The absence of the influential Hindu Rights Action Force and Human Rights Party campaigners is being seen as the main reason for PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim’s defeat in Hulu Selangor.

This is a shocking revelation given that only two years ago, Pakatan swept in on the wave of Hindraf support in four states, placing for the first time ever the largest collection of Indian MPs in Parliament.

HRP adviser N Ganesan said the results of last two by-elections – Bagan Pinang state seat in Negeri Sembilan and Hulu Selangor – clearly showed that Pakatan was rapidly losing Indian vote bank without the Hindraf/HRP backing.

“Both seats have sizeable and decisive number of Indian votes. Pakatan failed to capture the majority of the Indian votes and lost both,” he told FMT.

He recalled that Hindraf-inspired Indians strongly backed Pakatan en bloc in the general election merely two years ago.

He said the Hindraf-propelled Indian support had resulted in Pakatan having a third of parliamentarians and more Indian elected representatives than Barisan Nasional.

“Indian frustration has boiled over to the ballot boxes,” said Ganesan, who is also a political analyst for HRP, alluding to the recent Hulu Selangor by-election.

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