Thanenthiran said Makkal Sakti wants to be a BN member. — File pic
Thanenthiran also thanked BN for inviting the party to attend the coalition’s first convention last Sunday and its decision to open itself to other political parties.
“I don’t know when Barisan is going to accept us but I will leave it to the prime minister and the coalition to decide. Now we have a sense of direction of where we are.
“Let’s go step by step, and don’t ask me if we are going to ask for seats in the next election because it is too early for our party. We are prepared in fact but we are not going to demand for it,” he told reporters at a press conference here.
However, he said there was a possibility of a Makkal Sakti candidate contesting on a BN ticket.
“He (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) was very clear that Barisan Nasional would choose a candidate that is popular with the people and not because he is favoured by the president or secretary-general. He was very clear about it (during the BN convention). If he feels that Makkal Sakti has a good candidate, then why not? But we not going to demand and pressure Barisan Nasional,” he said.
He believed that Makkal Sakti would be accepted as a component party in BN.
He said the party was ready to mobilise its members for a snap polls expected to be called in the first quarter of next year.
“With our support in the 13th general election, the victory for Barisan Nasional will be more meaningful to all the Malaysian people. Our party may only be one year old but we will be a significant contributor,” he said.
Umno leaders had proposed amending BN’s consensus decision-making and the rule that presidents of component parties select candidates for the general election so as to allow the party direct say in candidate selection.
The ruling Malay party believed the new rules were more realistic considering its partners like the MIC have suffered major setbacks during the previous election.
However, the proposal was rejected when BN leaders recently agreed that associate members would not be given voting rights in the ruling coalition.
BN component parties rejected the proposals as they feared they would lose their seats in the general election.
In the 2008 general election, the MIC only managed to retain three out of nine parliamentary seats and six from 19 state seats that it contested.
Thanenthiran said the MIC must realise that the party was no longer the sole Indian party in the country.
“In the past they (MIC) felt that only they could represent the Indians but things have changed now. People are now more accepting of other leaders. In the recent convention, I saw LDP, SUPP, Gerakan and MCA representing the Chinese.
“So I think Indians should be given more platforms because if they don’t like A then they can choose B. As long as they are in the Barisan Nasional coalition because we do not want the Indian community to run away,” he said.
Makkal Sakti was launched by Najib on October 10 last year and is seen as a catalyst to regain declining grassroots Indian support for the ruling coalition.
Political leaders, both from BN and PR, have agreed that the Indian community, which had abandoned the ruling coalition in Election 2008, was now returning to their fold.
PR leaders had gone as far as to predict losing 60 per cent of Indian support to its BN foes, admitting that Najib’s brainchild of 1 Malaysia, his transformative policies and promises of inclusiveness had successfully impressed the electorate.
Additionally, the exit of MIC’s longest-serving president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has also been lauded by the community which is now said to be more hopeful that BN is finally hearing their cries to be noticed.
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