The imminent resignation of Persatuan
Hindraf Malaysia chairperson P Waythamoorthy from his deputy minister
post and his senatorship did not catch Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) by
surprise.
A socialist party that is known for its championing of causes the grassroots poor, similar to the ambitions of Hindraf, PSM had already "anticipated" that Waythamoorthy would eventually resign from his posts.
For PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan (right), the partnership between BN and Hindraf was always going to be a "massive mismatch".
He was referring to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed before the elections which led to Waythamoorthy getting a cabinet post as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
"Umno is a very corrupt party and they play racial politics. You (Waythamoorthy) claim to be against racism but you work with them, so I think it was a massive mismatch," Arutchelvan said on the sidelines of the party's nationwide roadshow campaign today.
"I think Waythamoorthy feels like he had been taken for a ride," he added.
Movement splintered
Waythamoorthy's move to sign the MoU with BN, after futile negotiations with Pakatan, caused divisions in the Hindraf movement, splintering the movement into two, and an open war of words commenced between his side and his brother P Uthayakumar, who did not agree with the MoU.
Uthayakumar (right)
went on to contest as an Independent in the general election, while
Waythamoorthy asked his supporters to pledge their votes for BN.
However, despite his cabinet post, Waythamoorthy had received brickbats from fellow BN ministers when he raised issues of death in custody and heritage destruction - issues that Hindraf has been fighting for all along.
He was even told to toe the government line by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself, and questions were being asked about the initial special unit that Najib had promised Waythamoorthy to deal with Indian issues.
PSM's Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar said that Hindraf have not addressed the issues of the Indian poor as they had aimed to.
He sees the failure of Hindraf to deliver despite being made part of the government as proof that their race-based approach in solving issues was misplaced.
"We believe in a class based approach. You need to identify who are the allies for the Indian poor. The allies are the Chinese poor, the Malay poor and the Orang Asli poor," he said.
"If you going to demand quotas (as Hindraf has done), then the ones who will benefit are the rich in that particular race. That's the same thing that happened with New Economic Policy (NEP). It is the rich Malays who have benefited more. There are still poor Malays," he added.
For Jeyakumar, Hindraf has a "fundamental flaw" in its political analysis and resulting in its followers being "misguided" in thinking that a class-based approach could solve their problems.
A socialist party that is known for its championing of causes the grassroots poor, similar to the ambitions of Hindraf, PSM had already "anticipated" that Waythamoorthy would eventually resign from his posts.
For PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan (right), the partnership between BN and Hindraf was always going to be a "massive mismatch".He was referring to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed before the elections which led to Waythamoorthy getting a cabinet post as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
"Umno is a very corrupt party and they play racial politics. You (Waythamoorthy) claim to be against racism but you work with them, so I think it was a massive mismatch," Arutchelvan said on the sidelines of the party's nationwide roadshow campaign today.
"I think Waythamoorthy feels like he had been taken for a ride," he added.
Movement splintered
Waythamoorthy's move to sign the MoU with BN, after futile negotiations with Pakatan, caused divisions in the Hindraf movement, splintering the movement into two, and an open war of words commenced between his side and his brother P Uthayakumar, who did not agree with the MoU.
Uthayakumar (right)
went on to contest as an Independent in the general election, while
Waythamoorthy asked his supporters to pledge their votes for BN.However, despite his cabinet post, Waythamoorthy had received brickbats from fellow BN ministers when he raised issues of death in custody and heritage destruction - issues that Hindraf has been fighting for all along.
He was even told to toe the government line by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself, and questions were being asked about the initial special unit that Najib had promised Waythamoorthy to deal with Indian issues.
PSM's Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar said that Hindraf have not addressed the issues of the Indian poor as they had aimed to.
He sees the failure of Hindraf to deliver despite being made part of the government as proof that their race-based approach in solving issues was misplaced.
"We believe in a class based approach. You need to identify who are the allies for the Indian poor. The allies are the Chinese poor, the Malay poor and the Orang Asli poor," he said.
"If you going to demand quotas (as Hindraf has done), then the ones who will benefit are the rich in that particular race. That's the same thing that happened with New Economic Policy (NEP). It is the rich Malays who have benefited more. There are still poor Malays," he added.
For Jeyakumar, Hindraf has a "fundamental flaw" in its political analysis and resulting in its followers being "misguided" in thinking that a class-based approach could solve their problems.
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