Fed up with way things are, a group of young Indians are planning to form an Indian-based component party in the opposition coalition.
B. Nantha Kumar, FMT
A group of young Indians are planning to form an Indian-based component party in Pakatan Rakyat.
Talking to FMT, one of the members G Krishnan said they were fed-up with both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan leaders with regard to issues affecting the Indian community.
“We call our group ‘Young Power’ and our goal is to help the Indian community become on par with the other races. Look at our nation. It is a Malay-dominated Chinese-controled nation,” he added.
He insisted that Young Power was not against the Malays and Chinese but focussed on upholding the rights of Indians.
“It is unfair to talk about multi-racialism when the Indians live in deplorable conditions compared with other races,” he added.
Krishnan said that Young Power had been collecting feedback from community leaders regarding the possibility of forming a new party within the Pakatan framework.
“We sent SMS to about 30 Indian Pakatan and BN elected reps, NGO leaders, businessmen, celebrities on Aug 25,” he added.
According to Krishnan, the response was positive with even DAP MPs welcoming the move.
He said that on Aug 26 and 28, Young Power sent text messages to grassroots leaders, who also mostly backed the suggestion.
Krishnan pointed out that there was only one Indian in Pakatan’s 30-member council.
“Is Pakatan going to say that there are no capable Indians to be members in the council. How many state chairmen or bureaus are headed by Indians in PKR or DAP?” he asked.
“Do not ask why we [Young Power] did not raise the same issue with BN because we voted for Pakatan and not for BN in the last general-election,” he said.
“The issue is not not about how many seats Pakatan is going to give to the Indians but how are they going to treat the community,” he added.
Krishnan also said that Young Power had identified several business tycoons who were willing to fund their movement and more details would be made public soon.
