By A. LETCHUMANAN
PETALING JAYA: The Chinese should not be blamed for voting against Barisan Nasional and efforts must be made to find out why it happened, said MIC strategic director S. Vell Paari.
He added that the community could have been driven to support the Opposition because of intimidation.
“We must convince the Chinese to support us based on our performance and not through threats of racial riots in the country,” he said in a statement.
He added that the MCA should not be blamed although the community may feel the party did not represent them well.
Vell Paari said the community is economically self-sufficient and not dependent on government help as such they would not be cowed by threats.
“I believe the Chinese supported the Opposition because no action had been taken against Perkasa and Datuk Ibrahim Ali for their comments.
“Putting Perkasa members as BN-friendly candidates had also driven away Chinese and Indian votes in Selangor,” he said.
Vell Paari added that GE13 was won by Barisan based on Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's brand and his direct approach to the various communities.
He said MIC had still retained four parliamentary seats, with its vice-president Datuk M. Saravanan and Putra MIC coordinator P. Kamalanathan registering higher majorities in Tapah and Hulu Selangor respectively.
Two others, MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and his deputy Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam won the Cameron Highlands and Segamat parliamentary seats on lower majorities.
MIC contested in 18 state seats but only managed to win five, two less than in the 2008 general election. “Although MIC has reduced representation in the state it has done quite well as most analysts had predicted the party would be wiped out.”
Vell Paari said there was a need to revamp the party to attract the younger generation and for a change in the methods used to woo voters.
“We cannot ask Malaysians to be grateful for the government's efforts as it's the duty of the administration.”
