As expected Mike Manikavasagam, Gopalakrishnan and Xavier Jayakumar have thrown in their hats into the fray. Another candidate mentioned by Malaysian Insider is Suresh Kumar, an aide to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim. I think left with Sivarasa to make announcement.
Can expect lots of backstabbing and juicy stories from now till election date. Goes to show these folks are same as (if not worse) that the other coalition.
If you have guts, you should tell the shortcomings as it happens. Not when its election time and everyone fighting for post. And remember, people want to hear what you can do, not what other people can’t do.
Banking on a claimed 35 per cent Indian membership in PKR, the party’s community leaders have launched into a mad dash for the vice-presidencies up for grabs in the ongoing party elections.
Indian leaders in PKR, the source of the membership estimates, claimed the racial breakdown puts them in a strong position to secure at least one of the four posts in contention (a fifth is by appointment). They further asserted that the community’s representation in the party may be as high as half of the 400,000 members.
“With such a huge and lopsided Indian membership in PKR I am confident of winning,” said an Indian leader contesting as vice-president, who requested anonymity. “I am confident Indian members would cross for at least one Indian candidate maybe even two.”
“All I need is some Malay and Chinese votes to clinch a deal,” he said.
To secure the extra support, the Indian hopefuls have also been trading horses with other non-Indian leaders vying for other posts, offering “Indian” in return for “Chinese” or “Malay” backing.
However, the assertions of the disproportionately high Indian membership in PKR has been challenged by some party members and political analysts, who point out that the community constitutes just eight per cent of the country’s population.
The leaders making the claims, however, offered up as examples divisions in Selangor — such as Kapar, Klang and Kota Raja — which have sizeable Malay and Chinese populations but were dominated by Indians.
The contentious numbers have also given the Indian leaders a perceived advantage in the contests.
“We have a head start,” said another vice-presidential hopeful.
Currently, only two vice-presidential candidates — Suresh Kumar, an aide to PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor exco member Dr Xavier Jeyakumar — have declared their candidacy.
Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam said he would contest for spot if PKR divisions nominate him. Two nominations are needed to contest for any of the party’s top posts.
Other Indian PKR leaders are, however, expected to join the fray. Top on that list are Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan and Subang MP S. Sivarasa.
Other lesser-known Indian candidates are also expected to contest, but PKR sources have dismissed them as “spoilers” out to bargain for posts.
With at least five or six Indian leaders vying for one vice-president’s post, a mad scramble is expected among them.
Some of the group, such as Sivarasa, do not consider themselves as merely representatives of Indian community but instead viewed themselves as representing all Malaysians.
That very principled stand might by their undoing because they are coming under attack from the other Indian PKR leaders for not being “Indian” enough.
“PKR is multi-racial but Indians need representation. They need a leader to speak up for them bravely in the party and outside,” one of the Indian contestants said.
“Sivarasa is not speaking up,” he said while campaigning among PKR Indian members in Ipoh, Perak last week. “I know we are multi-racial but speaking up for your people is basic because Malays and Chinese PKR leaders speak up for their communities.”
“Only our leaders want to be Malaysians but they (Malays and Chinese) are not,” he said.
Jeyakumar has also suffered the “not Indian enough” attacks, after being characterised as being “not [a] good Tamil speaker, don’t know Tamil songs, ignorant of Tamil history, not bold and constantly kowtowing.”
Sivarasa’s Tamil proficiency has improved in response and Xavier, by most counts is a fluent Tamil speaker, but the labels continue to stick and they have to answer for it largely because their progressive styles, which is viewed with suspicion by the conservative Indian base.
But there are many trade-offs to this “Indian vote real Indian” campaign and one is a possible backlash against such a race-centric movement, with Malay and Chinese members voting for candidates like Sivarasa and Xavier in protest.
The other is that the estimated high Indian membership notwithstanding, not all of them — or all PKR members — would come out to vote.
It is also not a foregone conclusion that Indian PKR members would vote for Indian candidates over candidates for other races.
Candidates are estimating that only 20 per cent of the 400,000 PKR members would come out to vote, with their voting patterns still an unknown.
“It is anybody’s guess because this is the first time direct elections are being held,” said a PKR strategist. “We are not sure ourselves but believe the votes would go the way Anwar signals it, if he signals at all.”
Being realists, the PKR Indian leaders who are banking on the “Indian vote Indian” movement are also claiming to be close to Anwar or to have his blessings to contest.
Two big line-ups are likely, PKR leaders said, referring to a rival teams likely to be fielded by deputy presidential rivals Azmin Ali and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
Both these leaders are said to be searching for the right Indian leaders to be listed in their line-up, with their main consideration the ability of their choices to bring with them Indian votes in the deputy president’s contest.
As of now, Gobalakrishnan and SIvarasa are said to be in Zaid’s camp while Manikavasagam fielded an appearance among the MP’s who have endorsed Azmin but may still shift his allegiance, according to his supporters. Jayakumar has also similarly backed Azmin.
These alliances remain fluid and promises to see a dramatic switching of sides as the battle shapes up.
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Organiser P Jenapala claimed that the party elections has been fraught with irregularities and malpractice, and that the “members present here are very unhappy”.
Her friends, Kamariah Bapu, 70, and Zaleka Mohd Ashin, 72, also confessed they were not party members and that they only recognised Jenapala through his several TV appearances.
Jenapala was the party’s deputy secretary-general until he was sacked after it was discovered that he had been declared a bankrupt, a charge that he described as “defamatory”.
Meanwhile, former Selangor treasurer KS Kottapan repeated former PKR Federal Territories Zaid Ibrahim’s stinging criticism of Anwar on Tuesday.
