KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 ― MIC President Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran have stressed that MIC under the coalition that consisted of pre-dominantly Malay parties, will continue with its fight for ethnic Indians’ rights.
He added that though MIC is a Barisan Nasional (BN) component, which is now part of the new government, but there is still so much uncertainty on its role.
“We do not know who the prime minister will pick for the Cabinet, we can only hope that we will really be a part of the government and hope that this will be a fair government,” he told Malay Mail in a brief interview.
He noted that the public was unhappy with the political upheaval resulting in the Pakatan Harapan government collapsing and leading to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia forming an alliance with BN, PAS and GPS to take over Putrajaya.
He said MIC had supported Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to be the prime minister because it was the right thing to do to end the week-long political uncertainty.
He said having more Malay-based parties in a coalition does not mean non-Malays will be forgotten.
“Even under Pakatan Harapan for the past two years, there were so many Indian ministers but were the Indian rights protected? More Indian representation does not mean Indian rights will be protected,” he said.
He also stressed that MIC never had any issues working with new ally, Islamist party PAS.
Meanwhile, party Youth chief R.Thinalan said it is nothing new for MIC to work with a predominantly Malay government, as under the BN administration previously was also a Malay-dominant one.
He said it has nothing to do with the number of representations in the Cabinet but the quality of representation that mattered.
He echoed Vigneswaran’s views that PH may have had more Indian representation in its Cabinet, but claimed this did not translate into benefits for the Indian community.
“I believe our president knows to draw the line and to work with the current government for the benefit of the Indian community,” he said.
MIC currently only had one Parliament and three state seats.
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