KUALA LUMPUR: PKR Indian representatives nationwide want Subang MP R Sivarasa replaced as party vice-president because “he is not fluent in Tamil”. Some 40 PKR members recently met party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at Parliament House to convey their request.
The members want Sivarasa replaced by Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan.
According to a source who was present at the meeting, Wan Azizah had promised to raise the issue with the top leadership.
The source said the 40 Indian leaders had collectively expressed their concerns about Sivarasa’s inability to handle grassroots issues because of his language handicap.
“We are not condemning Sivarasa. He has been very supportive of the Indian community. But his setback is that he is not fluent in Tamil and cannot orate in that language.
“I have seen a few people asking him for help but because of the language barrier, they cannot seem to convey their needs to him... and this is becoming a problem at the grassroots levels,” said the source.
Not approachable
Besides, many ordinary Indians were intimidated by the lawyer and were afraid to approach him.
"Sivarasa is from an upper class urban community. He cannot speak fluent Tamil and is not approachable to the rural population.
“While some find him intimidating, others are too timid to see him,” he said, adding that the party leadership must acknowledge the fact that every month “there are a few Indians at the grassroots level joining the party”.
He said it was vital that leaders representing the Indian community must be both educated and knowledgeable about the community’s needs and be proficient in the Tamil language.
"Bearing all this in mind, we believe Gobalakrishnan is the most suitable person to lead the Indians in PKR.
“He has vast knowledge of the internal problems plaguing the Indians and has the ability to bridge the gap for PKR.
“We believe the PKR central committee will see our point of view on this matter,” he said.
When contacted, Sivarasa said he will be issuing a statement on the matter soon.
1 comment:
For Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi to unite the Indians in India.
Did he spoke in all the Indian dialects in India?
Now, my MP speaks in Mandarin and Bahasa only while i speaks in English.
And yet we can communicate clearly.
After 52 years you all still cannot communicates?
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