Hindraf to back Pakatan, provided…
A blueprint for the resolution of the Indian dilemma will be tabled at upcoming Anwar-Waytha talks.
Athi Shankar, FMT
BATU KAWAN: Hindraf will support Pakatan Rakyat if the bloc agrees to implement the pressure group’s blueprint for the wellbeing of Indians in the country, which it will present at an upcoming meeting with PKR.
Hindraf deputy chairman W Sambulingam said his organisation was keen to forge an alliance with Pakatan to face the next general election but would not give it or any other political group a free ride.
“We are not going to give anyone a free lunch like in 2008,” Sambulingam told some 500 supporters at a fund-raising dinner here last night.
The blueprint will be tabled during a second round of Hindraf-PKR talks, which could be held at the end of this month or early next month. PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy are expected to attend.
The Anwar-Waythamoorthy meet-up was agreed upon last month at a meeting between PKR and Hindraf officials. Neither Anwar nor Waythamoorthy was present at that meeting.
Since his return from exile, Waythamoorthy has had meetings with top PAS leaders, including Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
Sambulingam said Hindraf would prepare a “comprehensive and constructive” blueprint containing recommendations and proposals for “permanent, practical, applicable and effective” solutions to resolve problems faced by the Indian community, including those unresolved since colonial days.
Hindraf has written to both BN and Pakatan to propose talks on the blueprint. Unlike PKR and PAS, BN has yet to respond.
Sambulingam said he regarded BN’s silence as a “rejection of Hindraf’s olive branch”.
He said Hindraf would call on Indians to support Pakatan only if the bloc agreed to implement the blueprint.
Issues regarding education, land, and settlement areas for Indians are expected to feature heavily in the blueprint. Sambulingam said these were not commercial issues, but were matters that bore heavily on fundamental principles of human rights.
“The government of the day is duty bound to fulfil these rights for rightful citizens, not to illegal immigrants,” he said at last night’s dinner.
