With Makkal Sakti, it’s advantage Najib

Najib is placing high hopes on Makkal Sakti president Thanenthiran. — Picture by Choo Choy May

By Baradan Kuppusamy - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The launch of the Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party (MMSP) by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was a grand and colourful event attended by about 3,000 Indians, mostly working class Tamils bussed in from across the country.

It was a costly affair but the new party — only a few months old — did a good job organising the event, showing ordinary individuals can achieve much if they have official blessing.

The mantra “Makkal Sakti” or Peoples Power in Tamil that was once the rallying cry of Pakatan Rakyat has now been co-opted by Najib and successfully used by party president R. S. Thanenthiran to rally the Tamil masses.

Najib has placed high hopes on Thanenthiran and his party to bring back the Indian voters who had backed Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 out of anger against Umno’s excesses, MIC’s failures, and the arrogance and rejection of its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

Makkal Sakti party put up a grand show on Saturday but beyond that, can it deliver the Indian votes in the next general election?

That’s the question that Umno desperately wants a clear answer to, but is not getting in the confusing flux that is minority Indian politics today.

With the unpopular Samy Vellu unable to give it up, the MIC in denial, and the Indian community enraged by Samy Vellu’s final plan to hive off the MIED from the MIC, there is little chance of the party winning over the Indian support it had lost.

Even if Samy Vellu leaves, it remains an uphill task for the MIC because other players — including PR parties — have entered the arena and are contesting with the ailing MIC for the hearts and minds of Indian voters.

The time when MIC can say “we are the sole representatives of the Indians” was over with the March 8, 2008 political tsunami.

In addition to backing new players, Najib is also forging ahead with messianic zeal to win over Indian support for his government, with numerous measures that are all independent of the MIC.

By launching the Makkal Sakti party, he has signalled that he is not waiting for anyone — no matter how close they were with Umno before.

He is not putting all the eggs in the MIC basket like before.

The PM is no longer placing all his bets on Samy Vellu and MIC. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Najib repeatedly told the audience he is ready to support any individual, NGO, organisation, or political party — as long as they subscribe to his 1 Malaysia concept and support government policies to give each citizen his or her due.

He has also co-opted the famous phrase used by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, “Your daughter is my daughter; your son is my son”, and is putting it to effective use.

He rattled off one by one all the actions he has taken since coming to power — RM100 million given to upgrade the 523 Tamil Schools and the promise of a second RM100 million, the RM1 billion unit trust reserved for Indians, and the increase of Indian employment in the civil service.

He had his audience on their feet, cheering.

While Anwar thought up the emotive slogan that stirred the hearts of the long discriminated Indian and other minorities, he failed to put it into practice as the Kampung Buah Pala disaster shows.

Najib, on the other hand, has the power, resources and zeal to put the money behind the slogan and is seeing the long disadvantaged community starved for help and attention warm up to him.

The launch of the Makkal Sakti party, then, is part of Najib’s grand plan not to risk all the eggs in one MIC-basket but to diversify, encourage reform and competition, and eventually win in the numbers game.

In the new political paradigm it does not matter how many parties Indian leaders want to form as long as they all compete to bring Indian voter support for Barisan Nasional.

In this context, the new Makkal Sakti is relevant in its own right and niche but is not and cannot replace the MIC as potentially the premier Indian party in the community.

The new party does not have a charismatic leadership, institutional network and memory, or a Tamil linguistic and intellectual base — all of which are enjoyed by the MIC.

The MIC minus Samy Vellu and his coterie of yes-men can still evolve into a party of choice for the Indians, provided it can reinvent itself under a new inclusive leadership.

Such a leadership would give a place to long-time critics like Datuk S. Subramaniam and other leaders expelled from the MIC over the last 30 years — including those who populate the IPF and PPP.

Until such a time, the MIC will have to stop blaming others and start competing with new players like the Makkal Sakti Party for Indian voters.

This is especially so with another big player in the game directly wooing the Tamil masses — Najib himself.