Indian voters will play their kingmaker role again on polling day!



Speech by M Kula Segaran, DAP National Vice Chairman at DAP Ceramah held in Buntong, Ipoh  on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

Indian voters will play their kingmaker role again on polling day! 





A few days ago, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib said that the Indian community can be the determining force in the upcoming 13th general election although the community is not the majority in any parliamentary or state constituency. 

In fact, the prime minister said, Indians had a big role because their percentage as voters in most constituencies could be the determinant in any of them. 

"We saw the dismal performance of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2008 and among the factors was the Indian community's reduced support for the BN. 

I certainly agree that the Indian voters will be the kingmakers in many constituencies and in fact the significant swing of Indian votes against BN in the 2008 general election caused BN to suffer its worst ever electoral debacle.

There are 60 Parliamentary seats which have over 10% Indians as registered voters. In these constituencies,  the Indians will be a strength to be reckoned with. Of these , Perak has 11 and Selangor has 16 Parliamentary seats exceeding 10% registered voters.  
Ipoh Barat has 25% Indians as registered voters,  the second highest in the country after Kota Raja which has about 29%.  

Since assuming the position of Prime Minister more than 4 years ago, Najib has tried hard to woo the Indian voters. 

He has talked about Nambikei and asked the Indian community to trust him. 
Can the Indian community trust him and the BN government?

BN has ruled this country for more than 5 decades and has enjoyed strong support from the Indian community. 

But what are the rewards for the Indian community? 

The Indian community is marginalized to the extent that many Indians feel they are underclass or third class citizens in their own beloved country- Malaysia. 
What has Najib really done for the community?  Has he done enough to correct the long neglect done to the Indians? 

Despite realizing that Indian support is important to BN and despite having been described as a leader who has gone to the ground to listen to the people, Najib has not done much for the Indian community. 

The likely reason is that he and BN think that the Indian community can be easily wooed back.

Let me tell BN leaders that they are wrong.

The Indian community has awakened and they will not easily give their trust and support to the BN government which has failed them for more than 5 decades. 

In fact, I am confident that the Indian voters will rise to the occasion come polling day and help bring about a bigger political tsunami to topple the BN governme

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