Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Interesting article by Mahendran. Buntong is definitely one seat that may be lost by BN. The article also highlights MIC members giving statements which the leadership may not agree. Hope they are not penalised.
Buntong’s Indians play kingmakers
http://malaysiakini.com/news/78944
B Mahendran | Mar 1, 08 2:20pm
Buntong in Perak is unique – this constituency has the distinction of having the highest proportion of Indian voters in the country, about 46 percent of its 21,930 electorate. And the grassroots sentiments among the Indian community this time around makes the electoral contest in this state seat an interesting one to watch. Feelings on the ground is filled with Hindraf sentiment, with claims of Indian marginalisation is well alive in every corner of Buntong. Dissatisfaction towards the ruling BN and Umno has now been turned into hatred towards the MIC and its chief, S Samy Vellu.
Just few weeks ago, a group of youths threw eggs at both MIC Perak chief G Rajoo and Perak Mentri Besar Tajol Rosli Ghazali at a function here. While both the politicians deny being hit, eyewitnesses said at least one egg hit the MIC man.
It is this anger that the DAP is trying to turn into its favour to capture this state seat from MCA, and the opposition party’s task is made easier with incumbent Yik Phooi Hong moving onto the Ipoh Barat parliament seat.
DAP’s A Sivasubramaniam will be trying to win the seat at his second attempt on March 8, against the ruling party’s Lee Tung Lai (BN). In 2004, he lost to Yik, known as the ‘Buntong Tiger’ by 2,382-vote majority. On Wednesday night, DAP big guns Lim Kit Siang (incumbent at neighbouring Ipoh Timur parliamentary seat) and Kulasegaran (incumbent at Ipoh Barat) gave a ceramah in Buntong, easily attracting 1,000 people, mostly Indians.
Shouts of ‘Makkal Sakthi’ (people’s power) filled the air and every time the ceramah touched on Indian issues, large sections of the crowd nod, agreeing with the familiarity of such cases.
MIC’s problems
But this does not mean MIC has given up on the Indian voters in Buntong. The MIC machinery is going all out to woo back the Indian voters, a task which the party says can be done although it is difficult. “This service centre (Yik’s Buntong office) is open every Thursday, for the past 15 years,” said party volunteer M Raju (right).
The ex-national athlete said the ground sentiment was changing slowly in favour of the ruling party. “Give us time and we can prove ourselves,” he added.
However Raju admitted that all was not well, especially within the MIC. He took a swipe at several MIC leaders whom he claimed to have under performed. He also claimed that while many Indians were not happy with the MIC, blaming the government would only spell disaster to the poor underclass people.
“Some MIC leaders are not doing anything, that is why people hate MIC… the opposition on the other hand, is simply making use of the Hindraf issue.”
These sentiments were shared by MIC Perak Youth head, S Jayagobi. “They (DAP) hijacked the whole episode. Hindraf did create political awakening, which was good. “But the opposition poisoned the rakyat to hate MIC and Samy Vellu,” he said.
Empty meetings
Departing incumbent Yik (right) however expressed his confidence that the Indian voters would back the BN on the polling day. In his campaign runs on behalf of Lee, he has been assured of the Malay votes (a measly 6.29 percent).
The Chinese voters however, standing at 46.17 percent, are equally split between the two candidates, making the Indian voters to be in a unique position of being ‘kingmakers’.
Observers here also noted that only those under the age of 40 will vote against the BN as these were the people that were heavily influenced by Hindraf. Furthermore, they added, many youths in their early 20s – and against the BN – were still not registered as voters. “We are retired civil servants. Of course, we will support the ‘dacing’ (the BN symbol),” said local resident A Sivabalan.
New-face Lee, still unknown to many, is counting on the popularity of his predecessor and the good track record of his party MCA to win the election. Yik was the state representative for three terms and commanded high respect from the local voters. He has captured the hearts of the Indians here with his little command of the Tamil language. However despite his popularity and his confidence, Indian turnouts for BN election functions are poor.
A party campaign on Thursday evening reflected the difficulty the MIC and the BN are facing in convincing the community. Organised by various MIC branches, the event was attended by barely 40 people, all branch leaders.
