Ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and supposedly racist policies under his rule are to be blamed for the decline of the Indian community in the country, claimed MCA.

“In fact his racially inclined policies have partly retarded the growth and progress of the Indian community and some single him out for the sorry state of the Indian community today,” the Chinese party’s Religious Harmony Bureau chairperson, Ti Lian Ker, alleged in a statement.

Ti was returning fire to Mahathir's dig that the party is an opportunistic “Umno appendage” that has abandoned its founder Tan Cheng Lock’s principles, by its blind support for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.