PUTRAJAYA, Sept 26 — The latest addition to the proliferation of Indian parties in the country, Makkal Sakti, received a confidence vote today from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who also pointed out that MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu had become a much hated leader.
The former prime minister told reporters today the potential inclusion of Makkal Sakti into the Barisan Nasional (BN) fold could be a good thing as it had garnered a lot of support from the Indian community.
“There is a lot of support for this party, which I think is a good thing. The party has proven itself to receive a large amount of support of the Indians,” said Dr Mahathir.
He said that BN needed to regain the support of the Indians, and that by supporting Makkal Sakti, the ruling coalition would be headed in the right direction.
Oct 10 is slated to be the official date for the launch of the party, with special VIP guest Datuk Seri Najib Razak officiating the ceremony at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park in Serdang in a move which suggests that BN is not going to rely solely on past partners like MIC to garner support and votes.
Critics feel that MIC is slowly but surely fading into oblivion, with many Indians finding the party irrelevant to serve the needs of the community especially with the on-going political dominance of Samy Vellu.
Continuous support by Najib and BN for Makkal Sakti in the near future could also mean MIC losing more supporters, something which Dr Mahathir seems to agree with.
“The support for MIC has already been diluted,” said Dr Mahathir.
Samy Vellu was also not spared from another verbal bashing by the former Prime Minister.
When asked to comment on reports that Samy Vellu might be taking a break from his post as MIC president for two months, Dr Mahathir sarcastically replied that instead of taking a break for two months, Samy Vellu should consider taking 20 years off.
“The longer he (Samy) sits as MIC president, the more people are going to hate him. I myself had only been Prime Minister for 22 years, and there are some people who don’t like me. Samy has been there for more than 30 years.”
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