Kayveas : cabinet should have 2 Indians
Malaysiakini.com
Mar 19, 2008
Andrew Ong

PPP president M Kayveas believes that Barisan Nasional (BN)) could have won back support from the Indian community should two full cabinet ministers be appointed from the community. MCPX

kayveas ppp pc 120308 sullen"I would have thought that having two Indians as full ministers would bring some confidence in the community’s support for Barisan," he said when contacted for comments on the new cabinet lineup.

The new lineup revealed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday included four Indians - three from MIC and one from Gerakan - in ministerial positions.

Traditionally, only one full minister post is allocated for Indians. This time round, its being held by MIC secretary-general Dr S Subramaniam who now helms the human resources portfolio.

It is believed that the majority of Indian voters cast their ballots against the BN in the recently concluded general election for ignoring the community’s woes over the years.

The swing is believed to have caused the defeat of many MIC bigwigs such as party president S Samy Vellu, deputy president G Palanivel as well as vice-presidents R Veerasingam and S Sothinathan.

Also shown the exit were MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran and Women’s wing chief P Komala Devi.

Larger representation possible

Despite the elimination of most senior MIC leaders, Kayveas felt that a larger representation of Indians in cabinet was still possible.

"If there is no people in MIC, PPP or Gerakan, an outsider could still be appointed. That would be my suggestion," said Kayveas, who was also defeated in the Taiping parliamentary seat.

He said that feedback from the grassroots also showed disgruntlement over the lack of improvement in the representation of Indians in the new cabinet lineup

"Maybe its still too early to judge. But the prime minister knows what is best. Hopefully, the new cabinet lineup would boost Barisan’s popularity again," he added.

'PPP still has a future'

On the future of PPP, Kayveas said the party would soldier on with their multiracial agenda despite not having any ministerial positions or parliament and state assembly seats.

"Our party is not based on positions. For years we didn’t have any seats at all. We’ve been through this before and we will come out stronger," said the former deputy minister.

PPP, a multiracial party with an Indian majority, was trounced in both the Taiping parliamentary seat and the Pasir Pedamar state seat during the elections.

In 2004, Kayveas contested the Taiping seat in a move which many regarded was the comeback of PPP - a once dominant force in Perak - which was forced to lay dormant for more than a decade.

At present, PPP is left with one senator post held by their Malacca party chief Chiw Tiang Chai and several local councillor posts in Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Pahang.

Abdullah is believed to have promised PPP a total of three senator posts in 2004 and is expected to nominate more PPP members into the Dewan Negara in the near future.

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