Calling for the Klang MP to “remain silent”, Hindraf secretary Muniandy Ponnusamy said the DAP man must avoid the same mistakes made by opposition leaders prior to the last general election in 2013.
“Many Indian leaders in the then Pakatan Rakyat leadership felt threatened with Hindraf and unnecessarily spread false accusations against us.
“This led to the failure of talks with the Pakatan leadership and the eventual failure to endorse Hindraf’s six-point demand,” Muniandy said.
He was referring to comments attributed to Santiago yesterday, where the latter said Hindraf was no longer relevant to Indians due to “major compromises” taken by the movement’s leaders over the years.
“Santiago, being a lower ranking leader should either remain silent or at least get advice from his leadership rather than publicly criticising Hindraf as being irrelevant.
“He must remember Hindraf chief P Waythamoorthy is adopting a very diplomatic manner and quietly discussing with various Pakatan Harapan top leaders on the possible collaboration between Pakatan Harapan and Hindraf,” Muniandy said, adding that this is the time to correct mistakes of the past and move on positively to ensure BN is defeated.
“Santiago should see the bigger picture rather than harping on childish and trivial issues.”
Muniandy highlighted Hindraf’s role as a grassroots organisation that has the mandate of the Indian community in representing them.
“Santiago and any leader who believes his false assertion are most welcome to pick any 20 estates at random in Malaysia and let us all pay a visit to them.
“Let the estate/rural Indians decide on a referendum for themselves who they trust as their leader to represent them in Parliament. Then the truth would be revealed.”
Muniandy then urged Santiago and his like-minded Indian leaders in the opposition not to sabotage Hindraf’s efforts in working with Pakatan Harapan.
On Aug 17, PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad met with Hindraf leader Waythamoorthy to discuss political cooperation ahead of GE14.
“We notice the Indian community is not well represented in PH. There is no Indian party. There are multiracial parties where Indians are members, but the representation is not adequate.
“I think we appreciate the fact that Hindraf has got the support of the ordinary Indians, not the lawyers or the doctors, but the ordinary estate people.
“So we are working to get Hindraf, if not as a member of PH, at least as part of the opposition,” Mahathir had said following the meeting.
PH is made up of four parties, namely PKR, DAP, Amanah and PPBM. PKR and DAP are both multiracial with a number of office bearers and elected representatives from the Indian community.
“We all have a larger agenda and in the interest of saving Malaysia, let us put aside our personal egos’ and work towards capturing Putrajaya. After all this is probably the last best opportunity Pakatan Harapan has,” Muniandy said.
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