Last year, Malaysia saw the formation of a new party: the United for the Rights of Malaysians Party, or URIMAI, which translates to “rights” in Tamil. Although the party has not been officially registered by the Registrar of Societies as of now, it is nonetheless interesting to see a new contender in politics. The party was founded by former Penang Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy Palanisamy, a veteran politician well-known for his landslide victory over GERAKAN's Koh Tsu Koon, former Chief Minister of Penang. Coincidentally or not, Ramasamy had left the DAP after being dropped from the 2023 Penang State Elections. Ramasamy, alongside other former-DAP members, founded URIMAI on the 26th of November 2023. Despite being relatively new, URIMAI seems to have already made a name for itself, which begs the question: can URIMAI really be the “voice of the voiceless” that it seeks to be?
I think that it is important for us to understand who and what URIMAI is fighting is fighting for. Interestingly enough, URIMAI Chairman Ramasamy had stated that the party would open membership to all ethnicities and would be fighting for the rights of all Malaysians, specifically that of Non-Malays. However, Ramasamy had also stated that URIMAI is Indian-focused and that it is unsuitable to call URIMAI a “multi-racial party like other political parties”. This peculiar stance has not stopped the party from gaining an initial set of supporters, who have helped legitamise and publicise the party.
The leadership of URIMAI has been undoubtedly outspoken, with Ramasamy and Deputy Chairman David Marshel striking out against mainstream parties. Most notably, URIMAI has condemned DAP and PKR for allegedly sidelining the rights of Indians. With the upcoming Kuala Kubu Bahru elections, URIMAI has urged Indian voters to vote against DAP's candidate to “teach the government a painful lesson”. Citing DAP's choice of a Chinese candidate over an Indian candidate, URIMAI leaders have claimed that the government was not bothered to pacify Indian voters, and that they should unite to “assert their politcal influence”, despite there being no Indian candidate to choose from anyways. URIMAI, however, has also claimed that it does not neccesarily support the opposition candidates either. Though unapparent, this outspoken nature of URIMAI has “made multi-racial parties restless”, as claimed by Satees Muniandy, member of URIMAI's leadership council. URIMAI may not necessarily be competing in the KKB elections, but their statements are noteworthy when considering what will come of them in the future.
In the past, the majority of URIMAI’s current leadership were members of the DAP. However, this didn’t stop tensions from brewing long ago; Ramasamy’s current allies have had a rocky relationship with DAP’s top leadership from even before Ramasamy’s exit. The first signs of discontent were shown when David Marshel resigned as DAP’s Seberang Perai city councillor and left the party, not due to ideological disagreements, but rather his concerns over Lim Guan Ng regaining the position of chief minister. Pursuantly, with complaints and dissent building up, this issue culminated into the founding of URIMAI with Ramasamy’s exit from the DAP. On the one hand, this could reflect badly for DAP’s party unity, but on the other, it paints an image of URIMAI merely being a disgruntled, bitter clique.
Now, what is URIMAI’s next move? Despite being unregistered as of now, the movement seems to have gained significantly more traction than any similar movements have been able of muster up. Unlike the countless other Indian-splinter parties, URIMAI has not been afraid on issues that they have an opinion of. As much as you - the reader - and I may have our personal opinions and biases, I believe that it is unfair to properly judge what will come of URIMAI. Whether URIMAI becomes a domineering pioneer of Malaysians or yet another short topic for the history books, one thing is certain: URMAI presents an interesting opportunity for change in Malaysia, whether it be good or bad.
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