LETTER | For some time now, we have been informing the party about the erosion of Indian support for DAP/Pakatan Harapan.

It is not that the party does not know why Indian support has eroded significantly. The party kept quiet, remaining in a state of denial. It took the loss of eight state seats in Sabah to suddenly realise that we are in trouble even with Chinese support.

We were told that the party is working within Harapan’s internal machinery to resolve issues. Whatever is being done is not working; that is the plain truth.

Looking at Indian support, how do we regain lost ground when we continuously disregard issues like Kampung Papan and Batu Caves Indian settlement housing issues in Selangor?

Indian leaders in DAP, especially the elected representatives, need to meet up immediately (and please unite for this cause) and come up with a list of must-do things in the next three months.

If the elected representatives can’t do this, then I call upon the party leadership to set up a high-level committee comprising some Indian leaders to put up a to-do list and submit it to the secretary-general/central executive committee.

The party should also come up with a similar strategy for the lost Chinese ground.

I am telling the party, in fact, warning the party, that we cannot be complacent anymore and keep giving excuses (though I concede that some of the reasons/excuses may have grounds).

All my Chinese clients were DAP supporters, but now they do not support us anymore.

This is a small example, but I think this is true across the board in the country. Please act and act now before it is too late.

Besides that, it is no longer tenable for the party to agree with the prime minister to continuously woo Malay votes when they are not coming. So let us not lose the bird in the hand for the bird in the bush.

Appeasement politics should stop now.

We worked so hard to be where we are now, but let us not take for granted the support of the Chinese and Indians, for it will only take one day to lose all, as happened in Sabah.

Let us re-strategise and give our full support to the party leadership to steer through the present storm.

M MANOHARAN is the Pahang DAP deputy chief.

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