LETTER | The Malaysian Indian People Party (MIPP) will not be lectured by DAP - a party that has thrived on Indian votes but repeatedly sidelined Indian leadership at the highest levels.

A recent attempt by the DAP trio - A Lingeshwaran, S Preakas, K Kumaran - to shift the goalpost by questioning Perikatan Nasional on Indian CM representation is nothing more than a false equivalence and pathetic distraction from their own failures.

Let me set the record straight:

1. PN-led states have constitutional constraints, Penang does not

Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu’s constitutions require a Malay-Muslim CM. This is a legal constitutional requirement, not a political choice.

Penang, on the other hand, has no such restriction, and DAP has full power to appoint an Indian chief minister - yet DAP refuses to even consider a winning Indian candidate. Why?

2. DAP betrayed Ramkarpal as Penang CM successor

Ramkarpal Singh won the highest number of votes in the recent Penang DAP election, yet he was denied the chief minister post. What happened to “trust and competency”?

Instead, DAP placed Steven Sim who had less internal support as voted by their members as the Penang chief.

If DAP believes in real competence-based meritocracy, then why did none of its leaders speak about Ramkarpal as their choice for CM?

This is a serious winning DAP senior leader candidate, son of the legendary Karpal Singh. How is he less qualified than Sim to run Penang?

3. Indian DCM a token consolation prize, not real leadership

Why would a highest-voted winning leader take a consolation token DCM post?

This arrogant trio brags about giving Indians a token DCM post, but where is the justice in that?

The Indian community does not need symbolic token roles - we demand real leadership.

Walk the talk

This is not about racial entitlement but merit, justice and fairness. Don’t be complicit and use the “race doesn’t matter” argument just to deny a winning Indian share to a top leadership position.

With that, we challenge Lingeshwaran, Preakas, Kumaran, and the entire DAP Indian leadership to:

Publicly declare that Ramkarpal should be the next chief minister of Penang. If not, admit that DAP’s so-called inclusivity is just a political con job.

Stop hiding behind baseless attacks against MIPP and PN.

If all of you are too timid to defend your own brother, your own senior Indian DAP leaders who won Penang DAP chairpersonship who are now suppressed - basic rights in the DAP party itself- how can any of you be trusted to champion the Indian community?

If the trio is serious about leadership, prove it with their own first.

Otherwise, it is clear: DAP only exploits Indian leaders and the public as a mere vote bank, not treat them as equals in power.

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