The former deputy minister can use the by-election to prove that he still commands support of the Malaysian Indian community, says its youth chief.PETALING JAYA: A MIC leader today challenged former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waythamoorthy to contest the Kajang by-election to prove that he still has the support of the Malaysian Indian community.
“Instead of sitting in his office and issuing press statements targeting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and MIC, he should make a comeback as a politician and contest the Kajang by-election,” said former MIC Youth information chief S Subramaniam.
He said the by-election would be the best opportunity for Waythamoorthy to prove that he indeed had the support of the two million strong Malaysian Indian community.
“He wants to champion the cause of the community. It would be better if he contested in the Kajang state seat by-election. Although it would be an uphill battle for him to win the seat, at least he will know how many of the 4,000 Indian voters in Kajang support him.
“I challenge him to get at least 50% of the Indian votes. This will prove that he is indeed an Indian leader acknowledged by the community. Otherwise he should just zip up because he threw away an golden opportunity to serve the community as a deputy minister.
“He did a disservice to the community by resigning as deputy minister. He thought he would become a hero with the resignation but he was wrong. His action backfired. Now he is struggling to find a platform to say whatever he wants,” said Subramaniam.
He said if Waythamoothy can muster more than 2,000 Indian votes in Kajang, “I would personally support him to raise Indian related issues to the government.”
Three days to accept challenge
Subramaniam said anyone can claim that they had the peoples’ support but the most important thing is to prove it.
“We give him three days to accept the challenge. If he fails to stand up to this challenge then he should stop his mini-serial of issuing press statements every day,” added Subramaniam.
The MIC man also wanted Waythamoorthy to answer three questions before running down the government and MIC.
“Firstly, what is the status of the class action suit against the United Kingdom government in the Royal Court of Justice in London for US$4trillion (US$1million for every Malaysian Indian)?” he asked about the suit filed by Waythamoorthy on Aug 31, 2007.
In the suit, Waythamoothy on behalf of Hindraf, wanted United Kingdom to pay each Indian family in Malaysia RM1 million for bringing their ancestors from India to work in Malaysia about 100 years ago.
“Secondly, Waythamoorthy must unveil details of how much government funds he received and how he spent it while he was a deputy minister,” he added.
Subramaniam said Waythamoorthy must also answer queries as to the fate of RM800,000 banked into the Hindraf account in 2007.
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