Ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, Professor P. Ramasamy is currently in Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) to campaign against Pakatan Harapan (PH). You heard that right, the professor is not campaigning FOR PN, he is just campaigning AGAINST PH.
Now there are a lot of ways that one can interpret as to why the professor is campaigning against PH in KKB. According to the professor himself, he just wants the Indian voters in KKB to teach the arrogant PH a lesson for neglecting the Indians.
Some people, mostly from DAP, are saying that the professor is campaigning against PH because the professor has a grudge match against DAP. For the uninitiated, the professor was with DAP until the 6-state election in August last year, when he and his team in DAP were unceremoniously dropped from contesting in the state elections, in a move widely seen as a purge against the Professor and his team. The professor left DAP shortly before the 6-state election commenced, and not long after, started a new party, called URIMAI, or the United for the Rights of Malaysians Party.
Other people, who are more politically neutral, are saying that the professor's campaign in KKB might be setting the stage for his entry into PN.
PN after all, has been making overtures to the Indians, who seem to be receptive towards giving it a try, based on the 6 state election results last year.
A study by analyst Bridget Welsh, published by Malaysiakini, revealed that Indian votes had dropped by 21%, 19% and 12% for PH in Negeri Sembilan, Penang and Selangor, respectively.
On the other hand, the Indian votes for Perikatan Nasional in Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor increased by 29%, 19% and 14%, respectively.
Despite repeated warnings that PH might lose the Indian votes, PH did nothing to arrest the decline of Indian support towards it. Despite doing nothing, Anwar is oddly sanguine about the prospect of Indian support towards his administration. Just yesterday, he confidently claimed that he has done everything for the Indians, and being so confident that the Indians will appreciate the fact that he has done everything for them, he is asking them to “stab” him, if they find him wanting.
Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for, it might just come true. If Anwar wants the Indians to “stab” him because he neglected them, then Indians might indeed do as he wishes and “stab” him by voting for PN in the KKB by-election.
If Indians choose not to vote for PH in the KKB by-election, it might be a costly affair for PH. Almost 20 percent of KKB voters are Indians. By and large, the word on the street is that it will likely be the Indian votes that will determine who will win the KKB by-election this May 11.
PN by the way, is more than ready to woo the Indian votes that PH has deemed to be too insignificant to matter. It has already accepted the Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) as the newest member of its coalition. If Ramasamy’s “vote against PH for Indian self-respect” campaign yields a result and topples PH's reign in KKB, I will go out on a limb and predict that if Anwar still chooses to ignore Ramasamy, then Ramasamy’s URIMAI is going to have a triumphant entry into PN as well.
Of course, the knives are already out for Ramasamy to ensure that he doesn’t return back to the spotlight after being pushed out of the stage last year.
There are many people in PH, especially in DAP, who seem to be vehemently against the Professor’s sudden rise in profile.
To curtail the rise of the Professor, DAP, in a typical fashion, has sent Indians in the form of Jelutong MP R.S.N Rayer and Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk R. Ramanan, to “kill” Ramasamy with a harsh and personal attack.
When that failed, Then PH got a Malay from their ally, Keadilan, in the form of PKR information chief Fahmi Fadzil to attack Ramasamy passive aggressively, by saying that Ramasamy is only doing what he is doing because he lacks “love”, before cynically urging Ramasamy to join PN to find “love”
When that too failed, DAP supremo Anthony Loke himself has entered the fray to attack Ramasamy by calling him directionless and vindictive for going against PH in KKB. It was very rich of Loke to call Ramasamy vindictive, when he himself was attacking MCA just a few weeks ago in Khairy’s Keluar Sekejap podcast, despite the fact that MCA is now an ally of DAP in the government. The jury is still out as to why he think it is not vindicative for him to attack MCA who is now DAP's own ally, but vindicative for Ramasamy to campaign against DAP, who is not only not an ally of URIMAI, but a party that has unceremoniously and contemptuously thrown Ramasamy and his team out of DAP, just months after Ramasamy and his team had helped DAP secure a massive victory during the 2022 General elections.
As for being directionless, it would be good if Anthony Loke were to talk to Lateefah Koya, the former MACC commissioner about her opinion on how his government is doing. To cut a long story short, Lateefah is of the opinion that Anthony Loke and his peers are taking Malaysia in the direction of being a “Banana Republic.” Lateefah is not alone in thinking in that manner too. I and many other concerned Malaysians concur with her opinion. Before Anthony wants to comment about other people’s direction, maybe it will be good for him to check his own direction, if he has one to begin with.
Anyhow, all in all, the KKB election, while insignificant in an official count, might have a huge symbolic meaning to PH’s image and reputation.
If PH fails to capture KKB, which it has captured comfortably in the last few elections, its loss will most certainly be attributed to the loss of the Indian votes, which will have a huge impact on PH’s image and reputation.
As of today, it is PH that is seen as the multiracial party while PN is seen as the racialist party.
If the Indians choose PN over PH, can PH still make that claim?
How is PN the racialist party when both Malays and Indians support it, and how is PH the multiracial party, when it is mostly just being supported by the Chinese?
It might be because PH is worried that Professor Ramasamy is presaging the loss of PH's image and reputation as a multiracial party, that PH and DAP are becoming so vitriolic against the professor, although in reality, the professor has no official position other than being the head of a new and miniscule party.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is the author of “While Waiting for the World to end”. He was a columnist at FMT and a frequent contributor to the South China Morning Post, The Star, Malaysia-Today, MalaysiaNow, MalaysiaKini and Focus Malaysia.
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