We refer to Ajinder Kaur's story, [#1] Politician denies link with Prim ceramah [/#] (Feb 5).

We have always had the highest regard for comrade S Arutchelvan, his chairperson comrade Dr Nasir Hashim and Parti Sosialis Malaysia for having stood up selflessly all these long years for the poor and downtrodden, squatters and workers alike.

But little did we expect Arutchelvan to cast doubts about our sincerity in inviting him especially in our fight against racism and the discrimination and marginalisation of the Indian community in Keadilan/Barisan Alternatif.

It was Arutchelvan himself who about two weeks ago invited Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) secretary-general P Uthayakumar to a meeting with about 20 other NGOs and opposition political parties at the Suaram office with a view to fight racism internationally and also locally in conjunction with the International Year Against Racism this year as announced by the United Nations.

"Charity begins at home" and as a multiracial party, we wonder why PSM and the numerous other NGOs "in the larger interest" have yet to denounce Keadilan/BA for blatantly and outrightly discriminating the Indian Malaysian community by rejecting Indian candidates because of the "a Malay candidate has the best chance of winning" policy formulated by Prof Jomo K Sundram and implemented by Dr Chandra Muzaffar in Keadilan/BA.

Should we bring up this question to BA and the NGOs, there would be a pregnant silence. But when it comes to racism in Umno, Barisan Nasional or other parts of the world, they are the fastest to react.

We must practise what we preach. Doesn't multiracial politics include the non-discrimination of the Indian community?

Especially so in view of our good working relationship we would have expected Arutchelvan to call us to clarify the misunderstanding (if any) and amicably sort out the matter. There was no need or necessity to issue the press statement to malaysiakini .

In any event we wish to clarify that Arutchelvan's name was only mentioned as turut diundang (also invited) which we felt did not require confirmation, unlike Dr V David who was described as the "special guest". We regret that Arutchelvan felt that his name was "used conveniently".

Finally we must also clarify that like PAS, Keadilan, DAP and PRM, Prim is also a multiracial party and not an Indian party as made out in the report.