PERHAPS MIC need not ‘hijack’ the festivity spirit of Deepavali which will be celebrated by Malaysian Indians of the Hindu faith tomorrow (Oct 24) to derive political mileage by portraying the DAP as a racial party.
In fact, it would be better for the party to dream on that the ‘big brother’ of Barisan Nasional (BN) (who else if not UMNO) would grant its wish to be given more than nine parliamentary seats to contest in the 15th General Election (GE15) based on what it claimed to be in tandem with increased support for the party from the Indian community.
Sincere or otherwise, MIC’s deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan appeared to be “extremely saddened” over the likelihood of his arch-rival incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago and Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto not getting an opportunity to contest in the forthcoming GE15 on Nov 19.
The Human Resources Minister said he remembers both Santiago and Kasthuri since he joined frontline politics in the early 2000s as being professional MPs who “raise valid and crucial arguments in the august House”.
“They are very professional in the way they present (their arguments) in Parliament and raise issues, especially relating to my ministries,” the Tapah MP told The Vibes news portal.
“Before this, I was deputy minister for the Federal Territory Ministry and Youth and Sports Ministry, and now the HR Minister. These are two leaders I always respect as competent MPs.”
As recent as Sept 26, Santiago has hit back at Saravanan over the latter’s claim that DAP will run the country if PH were to win GE15 since the party would have the most parliamentary seats after the election. He even pointed out that Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim could not become the prime minister without DAP’s support.
“In order to hide their weakness, they (BN) are pointing fingers at DAP. Stop looking for scapegoats and look at your own weaknesses, otherwise you will lose your job,” Santiago told the Free Malaysia Today (FMT) news portal.
Santiago went on to claim that both the HR Ministry in which Saravanan is the (caretaker) minister and the Home Ministry have caused Malaysians to lose their businesses because of their “bad management” of migrant workers coming to work in Malaysia.
Perhaps, there are two proverbial advice that come to mind in which Saravanan should heed: (i) “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” and that (ii) he should go about putting his own house (MIC in this case) in order first before meddling in the internal affairs of other political parties.
Especially in Santiago’s case, it must be admitted that rumours are flying high and wide that DAP is contemplating a change of guard (the latest being Kota Kemuning state assemblyman Ganabatirau Veraman) despite the former’s impeccable service to his multi-racial Klang constituents (GE14 breakdown: Malay 26.44%; Chinese 55.26%; Indian 17.09%; others 1.21%).
Whatever the outcome is, DAP will start announcing its list of GE15 candidates in each state in stages starting next week, according to its secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
“We have yet to finalise the list. The states have sent their recommendations, we will discuss and finalise it,” he told reporters after launching the Seremban parliamentary election machinery recently.
In a WhatsApp text yesterday (Oct 22), political critic and veteran journalist Kee Thuan Chye cleared the air that “some quarters are spinning viciously that there’s a hidden agenda to Kasthuri Patto declaring she’s stepping down and Charles Santiago being replaced as candidate for Klang”.
“I texted Kasthuri yesterday (Oct 21) and she told me her decision to step down was entirely hers and a difficult one. In Charles’ case, even he is puzzled as to who is making up the lie. So, please, don’t listen to spin doctors. Thanks,” added the author of Ask for No Bullshit, Get Some More! (sequel to No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians).
Especially in the case of Kasthuri who has served the Batu Kawan constituency for two terms, it has to be borne in mind that the daughter of the late P. Patto – a DAP strongman in the 1970s and 1980s – only recently tied the knot with Frenchman Alain Morvan (on May 6). – Oct 23, 2022
