PETALING JAYA: MIC believes it is in a very strong position to win back the support of voters in the 15th general election (GE15), as the party has made early preparations for it instead of waiting until the last minute.
Its vice-president Senator Datuk Seri Vell Paari said the party began working for it after the last general election and had gone all-out to help the people despite the huge loss it faced in GE14.
“Helping the people is MIC’s priority, and this has been instilled at all levels of the party by president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran. He changed the way members do their work, by changing their mindsets.
“MIC feels its chances have greatly improved because of the failure of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to fulfil the promises it made to the people, despite being in power for 22 months.”
Vell Paari said support for the party can be seen returning, going by the results of recent state elections in Malacca and Johor.
He said the party had no state seats in Malacca after GE14. But in the Malacca polls, it managed to win back the Gadek state seat.
He added that the feedback from the ground was good.
“PH leaders made a lot of promises to the Indian community before it won the last general election but after being in power for 22 months, the community did not see the promises being kept.
“During its time in power, PH changed its tune when it came to helping the Indian community. Indian Cabinet members suddenly said they were ministers for everyone and not the Indian community.
“What happened to promises made to the Indians?”
Vell Paari said to bring about changes that can help the community, leaders must have the political will.
He also said MIC seems to get the blame when something goes wrong, and people ask: “Where is MIC?”.
He added that Indian leaders in other parties do not face such questions.
Party vice-president Senator Datuk T. Mohan said the party is confident of being allocated a combined 19 parliamentary and state seats for GE15, but is hoping for more.
He said MIC started working just after GE14 by appointing coordinators in all areas to deal with issues faced by the public in order to win back support.
“Previously, the party was complacent and we would wait until one month before or until a general election was announced before hitting the ground to help
the people.”
Mohan said the party used to ignore criticisms, but it has now set up a “war room” to respond to attacks against it.
