"Too little too late" - that is how Tapah PKR candidate Vasantha Kumar has described MIC's call not to support Zulkifli Noordin, the BN parliamentary candidate for Shah Alam.

He pointed out that the party only responded to his candidature about 12 days after caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's announcement.

"What were the MIC and its leaders doing for the 12 days? Where were they?

"When Najib endorsed and made the announcement, it was in front of MIC president Palanivel. There was not even a whimper from them.

hindraf gathering 251109 t vasantha kumar Only after realising that Indian voters all over the country were really angry, these leaders are opening their mouths," said Vasantha Kumar ( right ).

"They got scared after SMSes, video clips and emails were going around asking Indians not to vote for the MIC or BN throughout the country. They now want to save their own skin," he added.

Vasantha Kumar was commenting on MIC vice-president M Saravanan's call yesterday to Indians asking them to support the BN but not Zulkifli in Shah Alam. Saravanan is the BN's incumbent and candidate for Tapah.

‘Apology showed no remorse'

"Zulkifli is not worthy of Indian support. If I were to say something disrespectful against the Muslims and then apologise, do you think they will ever accept?" he asked.

The former Hindraf member, detained under the ISA for about 18 months following its 2007 protest, said: "Zulkfli can apologise for all he wants but he has not uttered anything to say what he said was wrong. All that he was willing to say was that he was sorry."

Vasantha added that if Zulkifli was not standing for election, he doubted that he would apologise.

"He needs our votes now, and he won in Kulim the last time with Indian votes. Otherwise, he won't be apologetic now."

NONE He then challenged Zulkifli ( left ) to admit that his arguments in the video clip condemning the religion were factually wrong.

"His apology did not show any remorse at all," he added.

Vasantha was appalled that the MIC Youth leader even went on to say that the community should give Zulfikli a second chance. "I urge all Indians in Malaysia to vote out all MIC leaders as a punishment for abetting BN in ridiculing Hinduism," he said.

He also said he was ashamed of MIC president Palanivel's silence on the matter, adding that he was making sure his own position was secure.

He added that staged shows like an Indian kissing Zulfikli will only create further "hatred for BN among the Indians because such things played up the mainstream media including TV, radio and newspapers."

M KRISHNAMOORTHY is a freelance journalist and local coordinator for CNN, BBC and several other foreign television networks. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and New Straits Times and has authored four books.