What is the future of Makkal Sakthi party?

Since its official launch on Oct 10 by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, there has been not much news about Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP) headed by RS Thanenthran.

The pomp and pageantry of the opening ceremony is over and now it is time for the party to face the reality of politics. It has to go to the ground and prove itself that it is in fact a viable alternative political force to MIC and other Indian political factions.

In the long run can Makkal Sakthi really succeed in its mission?

MMSP begins its journey on a wrong footing with so much opposition from MIC, IPF and former Hindraf leaders.

One of the main setbacks for the party is that it does not have a popular Indian leader who can command the support of the Indian community to steer the party into greater heights. The only known face in the party is RS Thanentran, the former national coordinator of the Hindraf movement.

It must be remembered that whatever popularity and respect Thanenthran has earned so far comes from his role as the national coordinator of the Hindraf movement.

During the time when the five key leaders were detained in Kamunting under ISA and with another leader P Waythamoorthy in London, Thanenthran was seen as the flag carrier for Hindraf.

No one can deny that he did a good job as the national coordinator, bravely participating and leading many meetings and rallies and on some occasions he even had a brush with the police.

He became so popular within the opposition parties under Pakatan Rakyat that his name was tossed around as a possible candidate for the Bukit Selambau by-election in Kedah.

However, when he was not selected as a candidate by the opposition for the Bukit Selambau state seat, he refrained from participating in the by-election campaigns.

Since then there had been many changes in his political approach, finally culminating in opening his own political party to support BN.

BN political game

The speed with which the party was approved and the name approved for the party - Makkal Sakthi -raised many eyebrows and led to speculations that the BN leadership is behind the formation of the party and that Thanenthran and MMSP are being used to divide Hindraf.

With Najib himself launching the party and throwing his support behind it, despite opposition from MIC, it became crystal clear that MMSP is in fact a tactical creation of BN leadership.

With Hindraf's 18-point resolutions and many of its demands still not met by BN government and with the movement itself still remaining banned, naturally MMSP has not found any support from the former supporters of Hindraf.

The fact that none of the five Hindraf leaders who faced detention under ISA has joined MMSP sends another clear signal that this party does not enjoy the support of the Hindraf movement.

The Indian community in general respects and keeps in high esteem the sacrifices of the five ISA detainees and sees them as the true representatives of the Hindraf movement. Since none of them has joined MMSP, it is a major setback for the party.

With no support from leaders and members of its own previous movement and with so much negative aspersions, MMSP also faces opposition from other Indian parties like MIC. PPP and the IPF as all these parties see MMSP as a threat to their own existence and relevance.

While MIC's concerns are well known in that at any cost they do not want another political party as a coalition member of BN, the IPF too seems to have been awakened by the attention and importance given to MMSP by the BN leadership.

Just two days before the launch of MMSP, some key leaders of IPF held a joint press conference to announce that they are uniting for the sake of the party and would renew their efforts to join BN as an official coalition member.

Since its formation in 1989, the IPF under the leadership of late MG Pandithatn had made several attempts to be officially admitted into BN but they failed due to the opposition from MIC.

It must be noted that it was former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself who had failed to admit another Indian-based party into the BN during his 22-year tenure.

However, now he conveniently says that MMSP must be admitted into BN, obviously to vent his frustrations with MIC president S Samy Vellu.

Mahathir knows too well that it would be a nightmare for Najib to make the bold move of admitting another Indian-based party into BN, let it be IPF or MMSP.

As for PPP which is already divided with the expulsion of T Murugiah, it may also oppose any attempts by BN leadership to officially admit MMSP into BN and for this cause PPP may work hand-in-hand with MIC.

In Najib's hands

There are already about four Indian-based political parties pressuring the BN leadership to recognize and admit them officially into BN.

While IPF had been waiting for about 20 years to join BN, the Indian-Muslim party Kimma has also stepped up efforts to join BN and has made public statements to the effect.

Then there is the Malaysian Indian United Party (MUIP) headed by KS Nallakaruppan, a former ally of Anwar Ibrahim.

Finally MMSP has joined the fray now. Therefore, sooner or later Najib may have to make another bold decision in terms of the composition of coalition parties in BN.

Either he has to admit these parties into BN or must find a mechanism like "associate membership" whereby these parties will find a place for themselves within the umbrella of BN.

These parties will also demand some parliamentary or state assembly seats in the next general election and that would be another headache for the BN leadership. If these parties cannot gain admission into BN or receive allocation of seats under BN ticket in the next general election, then the confidence of the members in MMSP or other Indian parties supporting BN from outside would soon fade away.

In this respect it must be noted that IPF was able to sustain themselves during all these years because of the leadership of Pandithan and due to the caste sentiments prevalent in the party.

However, if any of these parties succeed in gaining admission into BN without the consent of MIC, then simultaneously BN would risk the departure of MIC from BN.

Samy Vellu had already indicated this on several occasions that MIC would never allow another Indian-based political party to be admitted into BN and that he was even prepared to take MIC out of BN if that was done.

MIC which is already in its weakest position now may be weakened even further and may soon become irrelevant if another Indian-based political party is admitted into BN.

As said earlier, even PPP would resist any attempt to admit another Indian-based party into BN. Therefore parties like MMSP, whatever they can claim, will still have to remain outside BN for a long time and along the way its members would get frustrated with such a political limbo status.

Role of the Tamil media

Since two of the three Tamil dailies are controlled by MIC leaders, so far the support for MMSP from the Tamil media has not been very receptive.

In fact there had been many negative reports about the party and Thanenthran.

For an Indian-based political party or leader to survive, the support of Tamil media is crucial and in this respect too Thanenthran and his newly minted party may have an uphill task in conveying their message to the Indian community to support them against other parties like MIC.

The gala launching of MMSP only became prominent because it was launched by the prime minister himself and since then there have been no news about the party's activities.

The party may also be finding it difficult to recruit members and the right leaders to lead the party at the division, state and national levels, as the party is generally seen as a "traitor" to the Hindraf movement.

In conclusion MMSP or for that matter any other Indian parties supporting BN from outside, may not be able to survive in the long run unless they are admitted into BN or allocated seats during the general election.

The reality of politics for the Indian community in the next general election or at any future by-elections is that the Indian voters will vote based on their own preferences as they did in Bagan Pinang early this month.

The Indian voters are not simply going to vote for BN just because any of these Indian parties are supporting BN.

Since Indians are divided into so many fractions, no single Indian party would be able to stake a claim that they can bring the Indian votes for BN or PR.

It is becoming clearer now that each and every one of these parties are formed and run by some leaders at their own whims and fancies and for their own ulterior motives without any concerns or regards for the real issues affecting the Indian community.

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R MUTHARASAN is an observer and writer on Malaysian politics. He is the web-master of www.indiantoday.net and has also authored the book 'Winning Strategies of Anwar Ibrahim'.