Pakatan 'still discussing' Hindraf blueprint

Pakatan Rakyat leaders are still working to translate Hindraf’s blueprint into “implementable policies and amendments to the law”.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua (left) said the coalition has not rejected the document, which it supports “in principle”.

“Whatever is in the blueprint will have to be consistent with our manifesto. Otherwise people will pick it out (the inconsistencies). How do we then show ourselves to be a credible alternative to the government?” Tian Chua said when contacted.

“So it takes time for us to make sure everything is consistent and proper. There is nothing sinister about the discussions taking longer than what Hindraf expects.”
Hindraf yesterday urged the opposition coalition to endorse its blueprint and form an electoral pact with it.

Otherwise, the movement warned, 25 of the coalition’s parliamentary seats would be in jeopardy as a result of Malaysian Indian support withdrawn.
Hindraf's claim not an issue
Asked whether this claim was credible, Tian Chua, who is the MP for Batu, dismissed it as secondary.

He said Pakatan was working with Hindraf not because it could deliver votes, but because Pakatan supported the issues raised in the Hindraf blueprint, such as the issues of stateless Malaysian Indians and the welfare of displaced plantation workers.

“Many other groups would also lay claim that ‘they can deliver this, they can deliver that’. We must first look at whether it is consistent with our principles.

“Some other groups may not contribute at all to any substantial seats, but we will still be working with them because we agree with them in principle.

“That why we have to first understand where Pakatan Rakyat stands in the issues of principles and election strategy. Otherwise, we will end up to be just a populist coalition that goes along with whoever tells us that they have seats to deliver to us," Tian Chua added.
Meanwhile, Hindraf’s national adviser N Ganesan (left) in a statement today called on Pakatan to convene a meeting by Friday to make a final decision on cooperation between the two groups.

“The discussions that Hindraf has been having with Pakatan over the last several months, which have been bogged down by inordinate delays and a lack of understanding, now need a fresh look.

“If Pakatan truly, and not just as a  matter of rhetoric, cares for the Malaysian Indian electorate, it should stop playing around with the issues embodied in the blueprint and start serious contemplation on whether it can support the demands in the document.

“To come clean is what I am saying – stop the manoeuvring,” Ganesan added.