DAP to reduce Indian MPs?
DAP has been accused of sidelining its Indian leaders by reducing the number of MP seats to be given to them for the GE.
K Kabilan, FMT
Indian leaders in DAP are deeply concerned and worried that the party would reduce the number of seats given to them for the coming general election.
Their fear stems from movements within the party to allocate seats, especially parliamentary seats, to parachute candidates and new faces who are mostly Chinese.
The Indian leaders who spoke to FMT on condition of anonymity for fear of party reprisal said todate the party has not made any moves to dispel their fears.
“Instead, based on what we are hearing and seeing, it looks clear that the party leadership is seriously thinking of dropping some of the incumbent Indian MPs,” said a party leader.
The leaders told FMT that the DAP leadership could only offer four to five MP seats at most to Indian leaders, including to the incumbents.
“Parliamentary seats that could be taken back to be given to non-Indian candidates include Batu Kawan, Seremban, Teluk Intan and Klang,” said the source.
Batu Kawan was won by P Ramasamy, Teluk Intan by M Manogaran, Klang by Charles Santiago and Seremban by John Fernandez in 2008. They are all first-time MPs.
The other MP seats held by Indians in DAP are Puchong (Gobind Singh), Bukit Gelugor (Karpal Singh) and Ipoh Barat (M Kulasegaran).
“The party leadership has been silent on the fate of these MPs. From what we gather, some of them could be dropped,” said the source.
Lost Indian support
However, another Indian leader in the party said not all four of the leaders could be dropped.
“Maybe two, and the other two could be reassigned to contest elsewhere,” he said.
DAP Indian leaders also pointed out that not only incumbents were in danger, but also several grassroots leader who were promised seats and now told that those seats would be allocated to others.
