BN luring Hindraf to its fold

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today,

GEORGE TOWN: Barisan Nasional has upstaged Pakatan Rakyat in wooing the outlawed Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
Sources close to the top BN leadership said mediators had met London-based Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy to discuss the idea of the movement joining forces with the ruling coalition. The meetings took place recently in London and Singapore.
However, it is learnt that Waythamoorthy laid down stringent conditions, asking BN to resolve a number of Indian issues.
Sources said the BN had conveyed Waythamoothy’s message to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
Although recent by-elections in Hulu Selangor and Bagan Pinang showed that the Indians were ditching Pakatan and giving back their votes to BN, BN strategists have conceded that “it was more an anti-Pakatan than a pro-BN swing”.
They said the switch was mainly caused by Indian disappointment over the Pakatan state governments’ failure to address major Indian issues, such as land ownership, housing, Tamil schools and temples.
“If Pakatan were to implement several comprehensive policies to resolve Indian issues in the states it rules, the Indian votes could move away from BN again,” said a source.
BN got an unexpected chance to woo back Indian voters with the demolition of Kampung Buah Pala, the 200-year-old Indian traditional village in Penang.
“That lucky break gave BN the impetus to woo back Indians,” said the source.
Since the demolition, the Indian community has been questioning the sincerity and competence of Pakatan state governments and elected representatives.
However, BN knows that it cannot be too dependent on the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco and that it needs strong backing from a politically influential Indian grassroots movement to enhance and sustain its reputation within the community.
Political game
The emergence of the Human Rights Party (HRP), formed by Hindraf legal adviser P Uthayakumar, as an influential Indian-based political entity, has complicated the political game in an already crowded Indian playing field.
HRP has now embarked on a “Malaysian Indian political empowerment strategy” to create 15 parliamentary and 38 state Indian-majority seats across the country to strengthen the community’s hand in bargaining for power and representation.
If it has strong backing from Hindraf activists, HRP could swing in the bulk of the working-class Indian votes, which would be detrimental to both Pakatan and BN.
HRP, Hindraf and several political parties and civil rights movements, especially from Sabah and Sarawak, are already contemplating forming a third political force, independent of BN and Pakatan.
BN is trying to swiftly thwart this development. Its leaders believe that Hindraf and HRP have a crucial and decisive role to play in the next national polls.
Many consider Hindraf to have been instrumental in the massive swing of Indian votes to PKR, PAS and DAP in the last general election.
Najib, it is learnt, has conceded that his attempt to split Hindraf by forming the breakaway Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party (MMSP) has been a flop.
Wrong horse
Sources said he realised now that he had bet on the wrong horse by backing former Hindraf national coordinator RS Thanenthiran as leader of MMSP.
He is said to be disgusted with the current in-fighting in the new party, which was formed last October but has since split into three factions openly battling each other. Observers see MMSP as politically redundant.
It is also learnt that Najib sees MIC as a party rapidly becoming irrelevant to the Indian community, as has been the case with the multi-racial but Indian-dominated People’s Progressive Party and Indian Progressive Front.
However, Hindraf and HRP see Umno as a common enemy and prefer to work with Pakatan.
But so far Pakatan leaders, especially Anwar Ibrahim, have yet to move towards forging a link despite attempts by some to persuade the PKR supremo to do so.
“Anwar has been either arrogant or ignorant,” said a source.
Thus BN has seized the initiative to draw up a working formula with Hindraf and HRP.
A crucial meeting between Waythamoorthy and BN agents could take place again in Singapore soon.