It had been a mistake on the part of Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) to support BN in the 13th general election, its chairperson P Waythamoorthy admitted.

However, he said, the group had been left with no choice after numerous talks with the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition failed to make headway, while BN appeared receptive to their demands.

“Yes, we have made a mistake. We did support BN in 2013, but it was very unfortunate that we were put in that situation where we had to sign a pact with the devil.

“We knew BN would not keep their word, but we were left with no choice because Hindraf is serving the poor and underclass community. We have suffered enough; it was very unfortunate that after 20-over meetings with Pakatan Rakyat… we could not find a common ground.

“We could not agree on any help for the Indian community. So BN came; we did not trust them, but they asked if they could put it in writing and we said ‘yes’,” Waythamoorthy told a forum in Kuala Lumpur last night.

He said BN had further agreed to PHM’s demands to make their agreement public and to apologise for the mistreatment of the Indian Malaysian community.

In midst of the 13th general election campaign period in April 2013, the then caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PHM dubbed the "Hindraf-BN five-year blueprint for the Indian community".

It focused on four key areas: the upliftment of displaced estate workers; resolving the issue of statelessness; the provision of education; and business opportunities.

At the signing ceremony, Najib had also apologised for BN’s “lapses in delivery” towards the Indian community, but said its new relationship with PHM is “better late than never”.

Following BN’s victory in the election, Waythamoorthy was appointed as a senator and deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to implement the blueprint.

Helped BN win 12 MP seats

Waythamoorthy said at the forum that the BN leaders had told him at the time that PHM’s assistance had helped BN win an additional eight to 10 parliamentary seats in the election. However, he said, he believed he had helped BN win 12 seats - and that the opposition could have won more if he was working with Pakatan Rakyat.

He added that he soon ran into difficulties in implementing his plans, and said he had confided with Pakatan Rakyat leaders that he longed to join the opposition coalition, even if it meant he would not be in government.

Waythamoorthy eventually resigned as senator and deputy minister “as a matter of principle” in February 2014 and apologised for failing to deliver his promises. This was only eight months after his appointment as a deputy minister.

Various cabinet ministers at the time, such as Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Hishammuddin Hussein, had denied Waythamoorthy’s claim that BN did not uphold its MOU with PHM.

Waythamoorthy also told the forum that he had been engaging with low-income Indian communities since his resignation.

“I have been talking to them. We have been addressing a lot of issues over the years and all of them have one thing in common: They want to see a representation. They want to see Indian representation in Pakatan Harapan.

“That is why I began negotiations with the Pakatan Harapan leadership for Hindraf to be accepted to be the fifth coalition partner within Harapan,” he said.

He said PHM already recruited election workers and he also claimed that it can help Harapan win an additional 31 parliamentary seats and 51 state seats, such as Bagan Datok in Perak and Merbok in Kedah.

A large rally is being planned on Nov 25 in Merbok to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally in Kuala Lumpur, Waythamoorthy said.

He said PHM had already applied to the Registrar of Societies to become a political party, but this has yet to be approved.

In the meantime, he added, the group expects to make a formal application to become a member of the Harapan coalition in the coming weeks.