Bridget Welsh highlights the Madani government’s ineptitude towards the Indian community
This sparks reactions from both sides of politics
In a recent article in Malaysiakini, State polls: Important Indian Vote, political commentator and academic Bridget Welsh highlighted the Madani government’s ineptitude, and lack of action in focusing on specific problems facing the Indian community. Welsh states;
Then explains some of the issues behind the Anwar administration with promises made to the community;
In her article analyzing the impact and importance of the Indian vote to the coming state elections, Welsh described a number of constituencies, where the Indian vote would be one of the prime determinants of which candidate would win. Welsh contrasted this to the predicament that “There is a sense that Indian candidates are being increasingly displaced”.
It is becoming very clearly apparent that the MIC may not be fielding any candidates in the coming state polls, even though MIC candidates may be able to play a pivotal role in a number of seats in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
The MIC has been politically abandoned by PH-BN in the coming state elections, where a number of MIC members will not be actively campaigning for the unity coalition during the campaign proper. There is also talk of MIC abandoning the Barisan Nasional outright over the issue, although this is denied.
Prime minister Anwar Ibrahim at a ‘get together’ with the Indian community in Sungai Petani on July 15, seemed to have indirectly rebutted Welsh’s remarks by saying that his unity government would ensure the rights of all races were protected, as enshrined under the federal constitution. Anwar said “We will help all Malaysians irrespective of their race”.
Anwar hoped that the Indian community would, especially those living in estates, would escape the clutches of poverty, but didn’t specify how the government would assist in this directly.
On the very next day, Perikatan Nasional secretary-general announced that his coalition is setting up a special Indian community special committee. Malaysiakini reported that former Selangor MIC youth chief P Punithan will join the committee as deputy chairman. After the state elections. The committee would be the steering group that would be responsible for forming an Indian political party under the PN coalition. There are a number of former MIC members who are being talked about to head up the new party. MIC has received a number of invitations to abandon the unity government and join Perikatan Nasional.
As Welsh concludes from her fieldwork, many Indians feel they are being ignored, and “are looking to see how their concerns are being addressed, with sentiments ranging from hope to disappointment.”
Bridget Welsh is an academic and political commentator, and honorary research fellow at Nottingham University (KL), and a research council member of the International Forum for Democratic, National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
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The same old intellectual frauds. The same suspects in Regime Change fielded by open societies the NED and the Soros foundation. Welsh smells like rotting fish both politically and morally. She has no interest in promoting something as amorphous in its definition as the concept of democracy nor has she any interest or knowledge of the region or its people.
When Murray hunter writes an article like this which completely ignores then dozens of initiatives, events, speeches, allocations that anwar has made for the Indian community including this past week when he said he’s committed to wiping out the worst levels of poverty in the country this year, Murray reveals that he’s not at all an aspiring commentator but more likely someone who is peddling an agenda.
How will anwar do this. He has said and shown that reallocating money from subsidies paid to the rich among other things is the way to achieve this.
There is no way this article could get published in any newspaper because it ignores facts, has glaring omissions and pushes a particular agenda.the article which needs to be written is why is Murray hunter hell bent on running down the anwar Ibrahim government?