In what may mark a major turning point for the Indian community in Malaysia, PKR Indian leaders have pledged to turn their backs on racial politics, announcing plans to go on a year-long road show to explain their message of multi-racial, needs-based new politics.
“I want to make it very clear. We are here today not as some Indian bloc within PKR. We are leaders of Indian ethnicity who will serve the people regardless of race. We do not want to be judged by the colour of our skins and we will not judge others by the color of theirs,” newly-appointed vice president N Surendran told a press conference on Thursday.
"This is the age of new politics and purveyors of divide-and-rule racial policies will soon become dinosaurs."
Baseless lies
Surendran had led a press conference attended by top Indian leaders in the party including Selangor executive councilor Xavier Jayakumar, Kapar MP S Manickavasagam and Port Dickson assemblyman M Ravi.
Their intention was to rebut the torrent of damaging accusations hurled at their party by renegade colleague N Gobalakrishnan, the MP for Padang Serai. Not only had Gobala attacked PKR de-facto head Anwar Ibrahim and Surendran himself, the Kedah lawmaker also accused PKR of not having done enough to help the Indian community in Malaysia.
"This is a baseless accusation. It is an outright lie. We have always contributed to the community and whoever needs help. For the Indian community to move forward, the emphasis is on education. And that's where we have to pour in resources, money into primary education, secondary education and do all that we can in spite of suppressive laws. And this applies for all the races," Xavier said.
New politics tour
The group will begin their "new politics" tour on January 16, 2011 in Johore where the Tenang by-election will be held. Thereafter, they plan to visit one state per month.
However, they also acknowledged it would not be an easy task to get the community to change their mindset after 5 decades of "brain-washing" by Prime Minister Najib Razak's BN coalition.
"This is a works in progress. We need to reach out to the Indians, to explain to them that the old ways have not work. It is time to embrace change and it is the only way for the community to progress," Manickavasagam said.
He was referring to the communal politics preached by the BN coalition, which has ruled Malaysia with a fist of iron since the country obtained independence from the British in 1957. Despite BN calls for racial unity, pundits say the reality is that racial polarization has deepened through the decades.
"We are not going to be like the BN leaders and rely on ethnicity to remain relevant. Not like Gobala. We are not going to use race to remain relevant to the people and spout high-faluting but empty slogans like Najib's 1Malaysia. The prime minister talks about unifying the country with 1Malaysia but during Christmas, the Christians he visited were not allowed to display the symbols of their faith. Where is the sincerity?" Surendan asked.
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