PKR, Stop Taking Indians For Granted!

As a member of PKR, I have to express my bitter disappointment with the way the party leadership has marginalised issues to do with the Indian poor and underclass of this beloved country.

So easily have the party’s top leaders forgotten that about one out four PKR members is an ethnic Indian.

So easily have they forgotten that without Hindraf, there would have been no tsunami of March 2008 which carried many PKR candidates to victory in many parliamentary and state assembly seats.

So easily have they forgotten that in the two and a half years since that electoral tsunami, the party they are leading have done practically nothing to address the plight of the Indian poor in the states that the party and its allies govern.

So easily have they forgotten that Indian poor look at PKR as the best, if not only, alternative to the other existing parties through which real political will can be found for meaningful action to uplift the socio-economic status of the disadvantaged Indian masses.

Alas, that hope has turned into disappointment. PKR is proving itself to be no different from MIC, PPP, IPF and the like. To all of them, the Indians are nothing more than a vote bank. Pursue them for their votes with all sorts of promises but forget about them once the elections are over or worse, treat them and their demands for rights and social justice as nothing more than a nuisance.

Witness yesterday’s demonstration against the party leadership at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya. Yes, it was prompted by anger over the disgraceful way the supposedly democratic party elections were conducted. But look at who formed the overwhelming majority of the protesters. Yes, ethnic Indians! There is a groundswell of dissatisfaction and frustration within the Indian community about the way PKR has been treating the Indians.

Listen to what one Indian protester said about the Indians at the top level of PKR’s leadership: they are not really Indians – convey Indian-related grouses to them and they could not be bothered. Listen to what those protesters said about the party’s electoral fortune: without Hindraf, there would have been no 2008 tsunami.

To Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin Ali, Wan Azizah and the rest of the party leadership – ignore the signs at the party’s peril. The recent party elections have shown PKR to be just another of version of Umno which means Indians will continue to be shunted aside and marginalised. Don’t take Indian voters for granted! MIC without Samy Vellu may just look attractive again. What happened in March 2008 may not come your way again.

Angry PKR Member,