YOURSAY ‘Unfortunately, it looks like Hindraf is using BN to squeeze Pakatan. That's blackmail, not negotiation.'

Hindraf yet to decide on GE13 backing

your say Bijan: Hindraf advisor N Ganesan, if both BN and Pakatan Rakyat did not turn up to the talks, you will ask your fellow Indians to abstain from voting? What kind of decision is that?

The Gelang Patah Declaration promises to fulfill 14 out of your 18 blueprint points, yet you are still not satisfied and want to abstain from voting, meaning you don't care about the 350,000 stateless Indians that Pakatan has promised to help if they win Putrajaya?

Ghkok: There's a difference between negotiation and blackmail. In my opinion, the fact that Hindraf is in negotiations with BN (or even started negotiations with BN) is a sign of bad faith.

Any organisation that claims that BN has abandoned the Indians and have oppressed the Indians over the last 55 years, and yet is negotiating with BN, is surely an organisation that lacks conviction, commitment, credibility and good faith towards a comprehensive solution for Indians.

I would dare say that the best way for Hindraf to show good faith is to end its negotiation with BN. Unfortunately, it looks like Hindraf is using BN to squeeze Pakatan. That's blackmail, not negotiation.

Anonymous #33877536: Ganesan, who are you to ask the Indians not to vote? Hindraf does not own the Indians, neither does MIC or BN. The Indians have a mind of their own. We may be poor in wealth, but we are rich in dignity.

So Ganesan, don't go around asking Indians not to vote. Every vote counts in this election, more so Indian votes.

Anonymous #76965586: If any of the two coalitions agreed to fully endorse Hindraf's blueprints, then they must be lying as parts of the blueprint are unacceptable. Even Indians know that they cannot fulfill all.

If Hindraf's blueprints are approved, then tomorrow, Malays, Chinese and other minorities will all come out to also demand to have their ‘blueprints' approved.

We need to have policies to help the poor and the needy. We don't need policies to favour particular groups, among which many of them are terribly rich.

By the way, is it not a crime to persuade someone not to vote in Malaysia?

Anonymous #10786680: We have to beware of the ‘abused wife' syndrome. It may seem mind-boggling for outsiders to understand why a physically-abused wife returns back to the husband after making a decision to end the relationship.

And usually, this happens when the husband pleads for her to return. He will say that he will change and has learned his lesson and that he still loves and need her.

But once back, the cycle of physical abuse begins again because the abusing husband has serious emotional issues and will not change easily.

My point - after all the years of abuse, will the Indian community return to their ‘abusers' just because the abusers now claim that they will change and will make things better in the future if they are elected?

Mark my word, no substantial change will take place. This is because BN is basically an ingrained racist grouping of parties out to look after themselves and their cronies.

Lie detector: Ganesan, stop beating round the bush and answer the question: Has BN agreed to the blueprint and have they said ‘yes' to your request for seven parliamentary and 10 state seats?

Anticommunalist: This is an excellent press statement by the Hindraf national advisor Ganesan. He is by far way ahead of any politician in this country. His wisdom is so far ahead that even the great DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang fears to debate with him.

Tailo: I don't want to be racist, but if you ask me, I urge the Indians to use their own judgement and not be blindly lead by Hindraf, whose leaders do not have the foresight for the Indian community.

Rican88: Ganesan, the common Indian on the ground is with you. I know that, I am one of them. Your movement touches the very core of our soul and I speak for the common Indian and not a few lofty ones who feel it is fashionable to degrade you to make them feel better.

Harapanbaru: Many years ago in a back lane behind Bukit Bintang road, I saw an Indian youth, 18 or 19 years old, being dragged from a parking lot by one ear. His tormentor was a Chinese guy around 24, perhaps the son of the parking lot owner.

Apparently the Indian youth had been caught doing something wrong - but what astonished me was the way he showed no resistance, allowing himself to treated like a slave. Then I understood.

The Indian boy was probably descended from coolies who came over during British times. He had inherited the slave mentality of his ancestors. The Chinese guy was descended from prosperous merchants. He was used to wielding power through money.

The only way the Indian youth could have broken the slave programming was to have reclaimed his dignity and sovereignty by breaking free from the Chinese guy and walking off the job. But he didn't.

Now Hindraf is trying to act tough on behalf of all the poor Indians who have allowed themselves to be dragged around by the ears for generations. When these Hindraf leaders attain some political clout, will they behave like former MIC chief S Samy Vellu, the mandore of mandores?

Milosevic: This Hindraf cabal wants to position itself as middlemen between Umno and the Indian population, and just for insurance sake, makes tenuous links with the opposition.

This has been the model for MCA, Gerakan and MIC, yielding benefits for the leaders but crumbs for the masses they claim represent. As these parties undergo atrophy, Hindraf sees an opportunity to muscle in as the new middlemen.

They do not have a vision for a new Malaysia, nor are they interested in giving the opposition a real chance at gaining power despite 50 years of BN misrule and greed. These people are after side payments from the rulers, and who better than Umno for this.

A cleaner opposition in power will not benefit these guys as much. In fact, general policies to uplift all the poor and promote growth, regardless of race, which Malaysia needs at the moment, will not benefit these posers of the Indian cause.

No wonder they want seats for themselves, which allows better side benefits. They want to do a Samy Vellu on us.

Hero325: Hindraf leaders are lawyers, they must know instigating people not to vote and to boycott the polls is an offence under election laws.

Blogsmith: It is only now that Hindraf, through Ganesan, admits that those Indian problems will take years to correct.

But they have been criticising Pakatan harshly for "not doing anything" for Indians even before their five-year term is over. Have we ever heard them criticising BN for its 50 over years of rule?

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