Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
story images
story images
story images
mk-logo
News

COMMENT | Two political parties within the fold of BN must be so desperate that they are constantly claiming that the parliamentary constituency of Cameron Highlands "belongs" to them.

These parties are MyPPP and the MIC. Apparently, the leader of MyPPP, M Kayveas, has visited Cameron Highlands a number of times in the last two months or so and told the voters that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has promised the seat to this party.

How true is this nobody knows, but given Kayveas' style of "boasting", there are doubts that Najib would have promised him this parliamentary seat.

Although MyPPP first laid claim to this seat, the MIC that had contested in this constituency has assured the Cameron Highlands voters, and the Indian community in particular, that the seat should go back to them, since they had contested in this constituency in the earlier general elections.

A few days ago, MIC president Dr S Subramaniam visited the constituency and assured MIC members that the seat should be reserved for the MIC.

Now, apart from making claims, what is the standing of these two political parties among Malaysians? While MyPPP claims to have a large multi-racial membership, however, on close examination there are doubts of this large membership.

Since the majority of its members are from the Indian community, MyPPP cannot be said to be multi-racial in the true sense of the word. In other words, it is just like the MIC, an Indian-based political party.

Votes that provided MIC victory

The MIC might have contested in Cameron Highlands in the last two general elections. However, this fact alone does not give the party a permanent mandate to lay claims for this seat. In the last two general elections, it was the Malay and Orang Asli votes that provided the MIC candidates the crucial victory.

In fact, not just in Cameron Highlands, but also in other constituencies with sizeable Indian voters, MIC had lost badly. In other words, it could be said that the Indian community has deserted the MIC in the last two general elections, especially after the Hindraf movement emerged in the late 2007.

While these two parties are unashamedly claiming the seat of Cameron Highlands, they have yet take up the matter of the grievances of the people of Cameron Highlands.

Illegal land occupation, often done with connivance of government officials; the flow of migrant labour; the plight of farmers who lack certainty to land occupation; and other issues have caused much concern among the voters.

Providing free petrol for consumers in Cameron Highlands or visiting patients in the hospital might not endear these two political parties to the voters in the area. Much more needs to be done to address the problems of illegal land occupation and those farmers who have traditionally toiled in the land, but without any sense of permanency.

In the last general election in 2013, the DAP candidate M Manogaran lost narrowly to the MIC's candidate G Palanivel, with a difference of more than 400 votes. This time around, DAP is confident that it would be able to wrest the seat from BN.

Cameron Highlands is not a "playground" for the Indian-based mosquito parties such as the MIC or MyPPP, but an area that needs urgent attention from the state and federal governments.

It is a famous tourist area, but the roads leading to the hill stations are daily choked with unimaginable traffic congestion. More importantly, the pristine beauty of the area is already being affected by rampant logging and illegal land clearance, problems that have not be addressed by those governments in power.

It is well and good to lay "claim" to this area, but unfortunately the leaders of these two political parties have hardly any plans to resolve the myriad of problems faced by the residents.

At least, in the coming election, the voters in Cameron Highlands have a choice as to whether they want to vote for BN or to give a chance to the opposition.


P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

ADS