Politicians cannot help but politicise the greeting that accompanies every festival. Deepavali is no different.
What happened to sincere, straightforward greetings without the need
for one party to say that they have down more for the Indian than any
other party?
The general election is imminent and both the ruling party and the
opposition are in untenable positions. Umno and Pakatan know that they
cannot win the election on their own. The Malay vote is split, the
Chinese will probably vote for the opposition and that leaves the
Indians.
So, the party which successfully courts the Indian vote, will undoubtedly be in a stronger position.
In his address on the eve of Deepavali, G. Palanivel, the MIC
president, told the Indian community that the government ‘was listening’
and would ‘assist them in the transformation process’.
Palanivel who also holds the post as Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Department, also said that Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had helped
the Indian community in their many requests.
He said, “The government has extended much assistance to date where
some have been implemented and others will be put in place soon.
“I am confident that the Indian community is on the right track and will continue to progress if they stay united”.
This is a clear indication that he is aware that Hindraf is able to unify and mobilise the Indian community.
He warned against stirring up dissent in sensitive matters and said that it was important to preserve racial harmony.
Palanivel urged Indians to adopt the spirit of 1Malaysia to
contribute to a successful nation. He also said that the community had
much to look forward to with the introduction and implementation of
projects in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and Government
Transformation Programme GTP).
He said, “These programmes are inclusive and the Indians will be able
to tap into the programmes to raise their socio-economic standing”.
Unsurpisingly, Najib’s Deepavali address which was posted on his blog 1Malaysia.com.my, was no less grand.
Najib said that this year’s Deepavali celebration would be “all the
more special” because Malaysia was beginning to see the end result of
the country’s national transformation efforts (NTE).
He wrote: “The special initiatives that we have undertaken over the
last two years are yielding results that have a real and positive impact
on Indian families and individuals.
“This has given us the confidence to further strengthen and widen our efforts so that we may reach all who need us”.
Najib told the Indian community that his government would include
direct initiatives to increase their incomes and that he would attempt
to increase the full business prowess of the Indian community.
He urged professionals, high profile personalities and community
leaders to help him change the lives of the Indians for the better and
also work towards national transformation.
He said, “Without the full commitment and support of each group, we
will simply not achieve our collective ambitions for Malaysia.”
Meanwhile, in her Deepavali message, Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, the
president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, also invoked Indian sentiments when
she illustrated the Indian community’s poor economic status and low
social standing.
She stressed that her party was not going to allow the Indian
community to languish and made reference to the ills that afflicted the
Indian youth and the disappearance of billions of ringgits worth of
shares which had been allocated to the Indian communities.
Despite the grand talk and deeply politicised Deepavali wishes by all
parties, it is evident that BN and the opposition are worried.
The reason is obvious. It is the new-kid-on-the-block, the Hindraf party.
Hindraf has energised the Indian community and given it a new lease of life.
The Hindraf leadership under the pro-tem secretary-general P.
Uthayakumar and his brother, the Hindraf leader-in-exile, P.
Waythamoorthy, have told Indians that they, too have rights and cannot
be pushed around like a political football anymore.
As a result, the Indian voter is more astute than ever and is at
liberty to vote with his head, and not his heart. Nor be subject to the
coercion of the Jack-boot of the MIC thug.
In the 2008 general election, the teamwork of Pakatan and Hindraf was one of the contributory factors to Pakatan’s success.
However, in the years that followed, Hindraf claimed that Pakatan
failed to focus on solving the problems experienced by the Indian
community and the Pakatan-Hindraf relationship subsequently
disintegrated.
Uthayakumar said: “In the last general election, we gave Pakatan a
chance where for the first time BN lost its two-third parliament
majority and lost control of five states.”
Nonetheless, the word on the ground is that Indians need not bother
with politics or politicians: “Why should we care? They (the
politicians) only come and see us in the days before the election with
presents, makan and money. We might as well be invisible the rest of the
time,” said one labourer from Sungei Siput.
For the past four years, he has been submitting forms to the welfare
office for financial help, with the help of an MIC official. But he
alleges that his application had always been rejected, until a few
months ago.
His children can now go to school, his disabled mother and child can
also receive disability benefits and four of his children who did not
have birth certificates have now been provided with the necessary
papers. This year too, he was rewarded with a hamper, which he claimed
had never happened before.
This voter is happy that MIC has finally helped him and he claims
that he is aware that the help probably materialised because of the
impending GE-13.
Nevertheless, he thinks that MIC’s help is just a bribe and he will vote for the opposition, at GE-13.
With Prime minister Najib tight-lipped about the date of GE-13, it
remains to be seen which party will successfully court the Indian vote.
MARIAM MOKHTAR