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Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email A bit of old news – DAP CEC elections which happened on the same week as the Permatang Pauh by-election. NST carried an interesting viewpoint – that of HINDRAF being sidelined by DAP. How? By virtue of not electing two of HINDRAF ISA detainees (Manoharan and Ganabatirau – both DAP members) into the CEC. The duo got 38th and 39th placing out of 58 candidates, but only the first 20 are chosen to be in the CEC.
According to NST:
DAP gave the Kota Alam Shah seat in Selangor to detained Hindraf lawyer, M. Manoharan, in exchange for full backing from Hindraf to capitalise on Indian sentiments. The NGO also called on its 5,000 members to vote for the opposition in the general election.
It worked. Manoharan won the seat comfortably with a 7,184-majority, despite not campaigning even a single day’s (his wife campaigned for him instead).
But the CEC elections may indicate that HINDRAF’s efforts are not appreciated by DAP members. So claims, a person claiming to represent Ganabatirau. K.P. Samy, the main bailor for the 118 Hindraf members charged with illegal assembly and a friend of Ganabatirau’s and Manoharan’s, had high hopes of the two making it to the CEC.
“They only got 15 per cent of the votes,” he said. “Indians played a major role in the last general election. Hindraf played a major role. But these heroes of Hindraf were not recognised. They should be honoured. “We don’t expect victory but 15 per cent of the votes is like total rejection. We must send a strong signal to the party that it has to be racially representative.”
Two of the successful candidates, Kulasegaran and Dr Ramasamy disagreed with KP Samy.
However, re-elected party vice-chairman Kulasegaran, who had 500 votes, making him the fifth, most popular CEC candidate,said Hindraf had not been forgotten. “They still got a sizeable number of votes,” he said, adding that DAP members were practical when it came to voting in leaders who could perform for the 90,707-strong organisation.
“In fact, Hindraf came about with the controversy in late 2005 over Mount Everest climber M. Moorthy’s conversion to Islam. When it first happened, who was the first to take up the case? “It was DAP lawyers, not P. Uthayakumar (another detained Hindraf leader) and gang.”
Ramasamy, who was elevated from international secretary to deputy secretary-general, said the party had always championed the Hindraf cause.
“The secretary-general of the party has repeatedly urged the release of the Hindraf detainees under the Internal Security Act. It is just that the party polls are highly competitive, that’s all,” he said.
A delegate from Kuala Lumpur, K.A. Ramu, also denied Hindraf was being sidelined. “With the two Hindraf CEC candidates in detention, of course, it was impossible for them to go to the branches and canvass for votes. At the end of the day, popularity matters,” said Ramu.
KP Samy disagrees: “Manoharan could not go out and campaign in the general election. Yet he won resoundingly. How do you explain that?”
