Vote PR to bring about A Better Malaysia for All

Speech by M Kula Segaran, DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Ipoh Barat at Ubah truck Ceramah at Kluang , Johor on Sunday, March 17, 2013

Vote PR to bring about A Better Malaysia for All 

There many cards the Prime Minister will play in his efforts to try to win voter support.
A card which the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib has used to woo the Chinese community is the gratitude card.

Last month, he has said that the Chinese are successful because BN has ensured harmony and implemented good policies since independence.

“If not for the success of BN leaders in maintaining harmony and implementing good policies, even if we were hardworking and had good business skills, we would never have been successful,” he said so when delivering his speech at a 1 Malaysia open house in Puchong.

In a democracy, the government is the servant and the rakyat are the masters, so it is wrong for Najib to expect gratitude from the Chinese community or any community.

Today, the mood for political change among the Chinese is very strong. It is a reflection that the Chinese are disappointed with the BN’s 55 years of rule.

Yet Najib ahs the cheek to ask the Chinese community to show gratitude.

I don’t remember Najib having asked the Indian community to show gratitude.  He has, however, talked about Nambike.

At the Thaipusam celebrations held at the Sri Subramaniam Swamy Devasthanam in Batu Caves last year, the Prime Minister said the government was serious about addressing the concerns of the Indian community.

“The government has never gone back on their word. If I promise something, the government will surely do it. If you help me, I help you and if you trust me I trust you, Nambike (trust in me)," Najib was quoted as saying.

Why did he not ask gratitude from the Indian community?

The answer is obvious—BN has not done much for the Indian community.

In fact, BN government has long marginalized the Indian community that not only it cannot talk about gratitude to the Indians; BN does not also deserve any trust from the community. 

Today, many long standing issues that affect the Indians are still not solved be they economic, employment or social problems. .

Today the Indian community has achieved some rather unflattering superlatives in the country amongst all the races: the lowest life expectancy, highest school dropout rate, highest incidences of alcoholism and drug addiction, highest number of prisoners in proportion to population and highest suicide rates.

Indian rubber tappers are denied the opportunities to own their small holding estate, cattle and goat rearers not assisted with barns and stables to house the animals, deteriorating Tamil school infrastructure and amenities, top Indian SPM and STPM scorers failing to get scholarships; the list goes on.

And till today, BN has not been sincere and effective in uplifting the economic status of the Indian community and the earlier promise to bring 3 % equity target has been postponed from 2010 to 2020.

How could a government that has marginalized the Indian community for so long ask for trust from the community?

The hope for the community lies in a new Putrajaya government helmed by Pakatan Rakyat.

PR has made Johor a very important frontline state in the next general election. Our objective of capturing BN traditional strongholds can only be achieved if voters of all races vote for PR.

I therefore call on Johore Indian voters to give their full support to all PR candidates in the next election and help bring about A Better Malaysia for All.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before speaking  in Kluang, I also spoke at a PR ceramah held in Tangkak