The NewGen Party has announced its intention to join the Pakatan Harapan coalition, promising to help deliver up to 25 marginal BN-held parliamentary seats to the coalition.

It will also help Harapan retain 12 Harapan-held marginal parliamentary seats, said party chairperson Rajaretinam Armuggan (photo) today.

He was speaking at a press conference to announce the application to rename the NewGen Party to the Minorities Rights Action Party (Mira).

He said the party would champion the rights of all ethnic minorities and mobilise minority voters to support Harapan.

“Only a change in government can lead to a change in policy and implementation. The (present) government is still stubborn with the same policies and the same implementations.

“If the policies and implementations don’t change, then the policies will continue to be unfavourable to minorities and marginalised groups.

“Because of that, we representing NewGen or Mira have decided to join Harapan as it’s fifth partner,” he told the press in Kuala Lumpur.

He said NewGen Party members had endorsed the move and name change during its annual general meeting on Sept 16.

In return for its support, Rajaretinam said Mira would not seek to contest in any electoral seats.

Instead, Mira wants Harapan to consider adopting and implementing the 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities in Malaysia.

The party was registered in 2013 by former MIC turned PKR member S Gobi Krishnan.

It went through a phase of being named Parti Bebas Rasuah with the involvement of former PKR leader Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor (photo), although this has been disputed by certain party members themselves.

The declaration, amongst others, states that minorities have the right to have their own culture, use their own languages, and profess their own religions, whether in private or in public.

It also says: “National policies and programmes shall be planned and implemented with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities.”

As examples of seats that Mira hopes to influence, NewGen Party deputy president Francis Rajahh said BN had won the Kulim-Bandar Baru seat during the 13th general election by 1,871 votes out for a voter turnout of 60,910 voters.

Of these, Indian Malaysian voters make up 15 percent of the constituency’s electorate, although the total ethnic Indian population in Malaysia is only about seven percent of the Malaysian population.

He also pointed to places like Cameron Highlands, a marginal seat held by BN where minorities like Indians and Orang Asal is a significant portion of the electorate.

On the other hand, he said PKR-held seat of Lembah Pantai was won with a majority of 1,847 votes out of a turnout of 73,396 voters. Of these, Indians comprise 20 percent of the electorate.

Rajaretinam said the NewGen Party is also planning ceramahs in Teluk Intan on Nov 4, Kuala Selangor on Nov 5, Tebrau on Nov 11, Sungai Petani on Nov 25, and Bentong on Dec 3. It hopes to draw a total of 50,000 people across all give events.

The party would also hold a dialogue session with NGOs n Oct 1 to discuss minority issues, in a bid to gather feedback for Harapan.

Rajaretinam said the NewGen Party would formally apply for the name change to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) sometime in the coming week since the ROS’ online systems are down for the time being.

He said he would also submit its application to Harapan to join the coalition on Thursday next week.

Asked about Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) that is seeking to register as a political party and to join Harapan, Rajaretinam said he wishes the NGO all the best in the registration process.

He stressed that the NewGen Party is not seeking to compete with PHM as the latter is an NGO representing Hindus, whereas the NewGen Party is already a political party representing all minorities.

He said the NewGen Party had also invited PHM to the upcoming dialogue session, but PHM had supposedly declined saying that it has different objectives.

The NewGen Party was registered by former PKR leader S Gobi Krishanan and Rajaretinam on Aug 28, 2013, together with activists from several NGOs.

Gobi had resigned on July 22 this year.