Kuala Kubu Baharu polls will test Indian support for PN, says Rama

Former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy, who now leads his own party called Urimai, said there is no conceivable harm in the Indian community going along with the opposition.

PETALING JAYA: The upcoming Kuala Kubu Baharu state seat by-election may be a “litmus test” for Indian support towards the opposition, says former Penang DAP deputy chairman P Ramasamy.

Ramasamy, who now leads his newly launched Indian party Urimai, said if Indian voters felt the Pakatan Harapan-led government had betrayed the community, there was no conceivable harm in them going along with the opposition.

“If the opposition can obtain half of the 18% of Indian voters there, victory might be snatched away from the PH-led government,” he said in a statement.

Kuala Kubu Baharu’s three-term incumbent assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong died on March 21 after a battle with cancer. No date has been fixed for the by-election.

Ramasamy, who was former Penang deputy chief minister, said Indians were prepared to support the opposition even though they have not been assured that things would improve with a change of government in the future.

“In short, Indians have nothing to gain under the present government, but there is a possibility things might be brighter under the opposition-led government,” he added.

Earlier, FMT reported that several MIC grassroots leaders had expressed concern over the party’s dwindling support among Indians, saying they had noticed more from the community leaning towards Perikatan Nasional (PN) lately.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an MIC grassroots leader from the Klang Valley claimed that even Indians in urban areas were shifting their support to PN.

He said MIC has not been doing much groundwork or engaging with the people, whereas PN has been very active in this regard, regardless of whether it was election season or not.

If this continued, he warned that the unity government might not enjoy much Indian support in upcoming elections.

An MIC grassroots leader from Melaka said one reason Indian support for BN had dropped was disappointment with the federal government, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim “not keeping the promises made”.

Ramasamy said MIC may exist today, but for all intents and purposes it might not prevent the shift of Indian votes to PN in the next general election.

“It is not that PN has wholeheartedly embraced the Indian community as it is still caught up in the race and religious rhetoric,” he said, but rather the Indians’ disappointment with the unity government’s failure to improve the economic status of this marginalised community.