A breakaway group from Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has formed the Indian-based Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party (MMSP), but denied that it has any links to Barisan Nasional (BN).

malaysia makkal sakti party official launch 190509 05 Former Hindraf co-ordinator RS Thanenthirran, who heads the new party, confirmed today that the party was registered two months ago.

Registering a new political party can be difficult in Malaysia - the Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) was only recently approved after a decade-long struggle - but Thanenthirran showed journalists the certificate of approval ( left ).

Despite the speedy registration, he denied that Makkal Sakti would lean towards the ruling BN coalition, which has been abandoned by Malaysia's minorities.

He said his party would remain independent and work closely with any other party that “benefit Indians at large”.

“We will work with any party regardless of whether it is from Pakatan Rakyat or BN. If they deliver benefits to the Indians, we will support them without any conditions,” he said, cautioning that it will not necessarily work with MIC.

“We will work with any coalition, whichever is doing the right thing. We will support them.”

Speaking at a packed press conference in Petaling Jaya today, he also said that no one has funded the party.

“If they want to give us money, we will take it... because we cannot move forward if we don’t have any money.”

malaysia makkal sakti party official launch 190509 06 Thanenthirran played down suggestions that the existence of one more Indian-based party would lead to additional factions within the community.

“Hindraf came to existence after (those) parties (were formed) but they failed to do their job. That is when our struggle started and many have come to support us. If they had done their job, this (party) would not exist,” he explained.

This is the second Indian-based party to be formed after Malaysia Indian Democratic Action Front (Mindraf) was established last month.

It had been speculated that the formation of MMSP was due to Pakatan’s failure to field Thanenthirran in the Bukit Selambau state seat, during the by-election in March.

However, he denied this, saying that the plan to form the party “has been in the pipeline” even before the by-election.

It is unclear whether those Hindraf leaders who were recently released from detention under the Internal Security Act will join the party, but Thanenthirran appeared positive.

“I hope they can join me, but even if they don’t, we will continue with the struggle,” he said.

No street protests

Thanenthirran denied any fallout his former Hindraf colleagues, including brothers P Waythamoorthy and P Uthayakumar, following his suspension from the movement.

“Waythamoorthy said I was free to form a party and he has given me his blessings. They already said they won’t join a political party, but our strategy is to form one political and one apolitical platform (to voice our grouses),” he said.

uthayakumar batu cave hair offering 170509 03 When contacted later, Uthayakumar (left) said he had not been consulted about MMSP.

“I do not have any knowledge of this. But I think they are free to exercise their right under Article 10 (freedom of association) of the federal constitution,” he said.

"We (Hindraf) are going ahead with our plans (for a revised strategy). I am gathering further feedback from the community and we will announce our ultimate plan next month.”

Thanenthirran said his party would make use of a political platform for dialogues, but “if there is the necessity (to protest), then we will go to the streets”.

“We will try to talk to the government. Whether or not they listen to us is up to them,” he said.

The party expects to sign up 300,000 members by June next year, “as many grassroots supporters have urged us to hasten the formation of the party”. He said 5,000 members had already signed up.

malaysia makkal sakti party official launch 190509 01 Indians of any creed - Muslim, Christian or Sikh - or from any dialect-group may join the party.

“I’ve been concentrating on the plight of the Indians and their struggle for the past one and a half years. Let us concentrate on these people first, then of course, we will allow (other races) to join,” Thanenthirran added.

Other founders of the party who attended the press conference were A Waythamurthy (now the deputy president) B Susila, O Thiagrajan and M Loganathan.

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said that race-based parties were not the way forward for Malaysia, and that Makkal Sakti would struggle because it lacks the backing of other top Hindraf figures.

"Deciding to join the BN coalition would be a mistake as... the new party would be viewed as selling out," he said.

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