MIC deputy president G Palanivel today slammed former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad for accusing the party's long term chief S Samy Vellu of being a racist and warned such statements could fan deeper racial sentiments.In a statement released today, Palanivel also said that the former prime minister's comments on Hindraf were short in accuracy and insensitive to the sentiment of Indians in the country.
"It is sad to note that Mahathir is not aware of the fact that Hindraf is not only made of Tamil people but includes many non-Tamil and even non-Hindus.
"He (Mahathir) is wrong when he said Hindraf leaders only represent Tamil racists," said Palanivel in defence to Samy Vellu who has recently joined in the bandwagon in advocating for the release of five Hindraf leaders detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Palanivel also said Mahathir should look into "his own roots" before manifesting such statements. Mahathir's forefathers are from South India.
The MIC man also added that Mahathir has "lost sight of the big picture" in his efforts to wage a war against the current prime minister and Samy Vellu.
"People have become more politically aware and Mahathir should know how people read him. He should not make unsubstantiated statements that are reckless and careless in nature," he said.
Palanivel added that the civil society was championing for "more freedom" together and people of other races also believe that the "ISA is proscriptive and hinders the process of democracy".
"To pick on any one race and say that such a request is racist is simply causing mischief.
"Past leaders and leaders who have lost their positions are busy apportioning blame on why Barisan lost and in doing so they are confusing both supporters and non-supporters," he stressed.
He highlighted that BN should focus on bringing the Indian votes back to the ruling coalition but it was not possible unless leaders unite and leave behind their self-centredness.
"Using rhetoric to subtly cover their self-interest is not going to work because people have now become more politically aware," he added.
tunku : samy's man at last came to his rescue with bringing up things like tun mahathir's roots.i think they want tun mahathir to champion hindraf actions just because his forefathers are from south india.what a stupid statement from a stupid deputy.if samy and you were strong leaders your party will not have lost so many seats which the president and deputy lost their seats too.palanivel said that past leaders and leaders who have lost their positions are busy apportioning blame on why Barisan lost and in doing so they are confusing both supporters and non-supporters, this includes his own boss samy vellu who blames tun mahathir's did nothing for the indian instead of taking it on his own shoulder as the president of mic. tun mahathir was the president of umno not mic.my advice to mic is stop talking and start working.
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2 comments:
G Palanivel lost in the recent general election but still has the audacity to utter these words???
"People have become more politically aware and Mahathir should know how people read him. He should not make unsubstantiated statements that are reckless and careless in nature," he said.
If in the first place he had thought that people are becoming more aware, he would have not lost in the recent elections! Even the Indians didn't support him!
Podah!
tunku and jebatmustdie, you both are obviously tun loyalist.to me personally, nothing offensive about that at all. i havent yet disagreed with any of his coment until that one about hindraf.
if at that point of time, some big people from the government reached out to that minority group and find out what is wrong, things may have been so much different.
as an indian, i myself am ashamed to admit i am unaware to learn how the former estate workers are living after being displaced from their estates. many of them were just ignored in our preoccupation with the rising cost of living, the malaysian gp and many such things. they are very poor neglected people. seriously. alcohol abuse, crime, malnutrition is high amongst them.
the whole BN, MIC included ingnored the initial Hindraf issue. they ignored many things the rakyat was feeling. as a result, we had march 8,
now, i feel the government is making a legitimate come to effort to reach out, not just to hindraf supporters but to many poor rural malays and east malaysians. too late? i hope not.
how else do you think a leader of the indian community should respond to tun's statements? agree with tun and continue living in denial, at the same time letting bn rot, or try to rectify mistakes and let some good come out of the situation.
you think that reminding tun about his roots is a cheap shot? fair enough.
tun's statement is so very untimely in the present time.
jebat, he lost in the elections. like many good leaders, he is trying come to terms with what went wrong. read his other statements. does the fact that you lost bar you from making comments?
there are more that 10 reasons BN lost badly, and many good leaders like him were collateral damage.it was 198 vote difference.
i still believe in BN. They will secure the indian votes in time with leaders like him.
i just hope people remain open minded.
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