Indians opt for multiracial parties
They made their choice as to who should represent their interests, which is a departure from the traditional approach of race-based political party representation.
MALAYSIAN Indians have voted for multiracial political parties to represent them in Parliament based on GE14 results.
This shows a major departure from the traditional approach of race-based political party representation.
There are now 16 elected Indian MPs. This is larger than the 2013 figure of 11.
Of the 16, only two are from the ethnic based party of MIC, which is part of Barisan Nasional. In this GE14, both the MIC president and the deputy president failed to secure a seat, as it happened in the 2008 general election.
The other 14 MPs are from two political parties in Pakatan Harapan, which has now become the new Federal Government. There are seven elected members from the DAP and seven from PKR.
What is also significant is that many of them won with large majorities. In all the seats where there was a contest between Barisan and Pakatan, with the exception of Cameron Highlands, all Pakatan candidates won.
The new reality is that for the first time since Independence, the MIC is with the new Opposition in Parliament and out of the Federal Government. The MIC leadership will now have to review their position and see their new role as
Opposition members.
Among the Pakatan Indian MPs are many dynamic politicians with good grassroots experience as well as professional competencies.
A number have been MPs since 2008 and in their third term. There is only one female MP, Kasthuri Patto. The youngest MP is P. Prabakaran who contested as an independent candidate and accepted as a PKR choice when the PKR candidate for Batu was disqualified.
This is their opportunity to lead the Malaysian Indian community into the 2020s and beyond, with a message of hope and new ways of community empowerment in addressing social disadvantages
The question is what would become of all the special measures that the former Prime Minister initiated, such as the Socioeconomic Development for the Indian Community Unit (Sedic)? Will it continue? Will there be changes?
The Pakatan manifesto has a special reference to measures in addressing Indian concerns. It is without doubt that the Pakatan government would build on these. These will be strengthened to ensure that benefits reach the targeted groups.
Before GE14, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad participated in a dialogue organised by Hindraf and it could be possible that they and other strate- gic partners will work together to ensure effective delivery and address major concerns such as citizenship rights, education and skills training, including scholarships, economic and micro business loans, urban poverty issues including affordable housing and issues pertaining to death in custody, police brutality and human rights violations.
In this context, it might be possible to give focus to three additional concerns and approaches.
The first is to adopt a rights-based approach to development – moving away from charity, welfare and hand-outs towards community empowerment and resilience. This must be based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Secondly, there is a need to adopt a non-racial and non-ethnic approach and address minority concerns through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 17 SDGs give a multidimensional approach that also requires inter-agency cooperation.
This would be a better measure to ensure that “no one is left behind”, moving beyond ethnicity, gender, disability and socio-economic divisions, including class or caste.
Thirdly, a dedicated social inclusion unit to address social exclusion, irrespective of ethnicity with specific targets to reach all disadvantaged communities, should be set up.
This might be the new way forward in this climate of political change.
It is important to strengthen public disclosure of the resources and this could be best done through an effective oversight body which is made up of a cross-section of Malaysians.
A consultative process on this to review the past and chart the new course in line with the Vision 2020 agenda is now possible by taking stock of what happened in the past, what are the gaps and what is the way forward.
There is now an opportunity to review the earlier approaches and over the next five years ensure effective monitoring and delivery so that no one is left behind and would now have an opportunity to enjoy a better quality of life.
Prof Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria is the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies at UKM.