P Ramasamy said Indian support for DAP reached its peak in the 2022 general election.

He said this support dropped in the 2023 state election, and that the backing of the Indian community for DAP and PKR had decreased since then, citing as an example the results of the recent by-elections.

Ramasamy, who now chairs Indian-based party Urimai, said the focus by PKR and DAP on Chinese and Malay voters had rendered the concept of multiracialism “hollow and meaningless”.

He described the appointment of Indian politicians to DAP’s CEC as “window dressing for DAP to reveal its multiracial character”.

“Appointing Indian leaders without any support base among the Indian grassroots might not ingratiate the Chinese-dominated party to the rank-and-file Indians,” he said in a statement, referring to former human resources minister V Sivakumar and assemblyman M Thulsi Thivani.

Sivakumar and Thulsi were among 10 members appointed to the CEC, which met on June 23.

Earlier today, FMT reported analyst James Chin as saying that DAP’s decision to appoint Sivakumar to its CEC was because the party wanted to shore up its Indian support.