KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 50 PKR supporters from Kapar gathered at the party headquarters here today to protest the candidacy of Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid for the parliamentary seat in Selangor, insisting that it is a “traditional-Indian” constituency.
The group threatened to not vote for PKR if its president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah does not comply with their demands.
G. Kalaiselvan, who claimed to be a grassroot leader in the party said it was imperative to have an Indian representative to represent the rights of the community in Kapar.
“We have no issues with Malay candidates but the area has many temples. How are Malay candidates going to go in?”
“We also don’t want Manivanan because his office is always closed and he doesn’t do his job properly,” Kalaiselvan told reporters while referring to dropped incumbent G. Manivanan who was replaced with Abdullah Sani.
Manivanan was instead offered the Hutan Melintang state seat in Perak by PKR.
PKR member, M. Tamilvanam said a Malay candidate could not represent the interests of the 17,000 Indians in the traditional Indian area.
“We need a representative who can read and write in Tamil as the community they will be serving are mostly Tamil educated. We will not vote for PKR if they refuse to field an Indian candidate,” said the cultural activist from Naam Tamilan.
He also said that there were many PKR leaders besides Manivanan such as Kepong Youth chief K. Kalai Mughilan.
M. Murali said the community makes up 17,000 voters which is a sizable number and a deciding factor in the polls.
“Pas and Umno will be fielding Malay candidates and if PKR does this as well it will split the Malay votes three ways. The edge can be obtained if we field an Indian candidate,” said a voter in the area while warning PKR not to take the community’s support for granted.
PKR has held the seat since 2008.
Previously, both the opposition and Barisan Nasional have fielded Indian candidates for the constituency which protesters repeatedly called a traditional “Indian seat.”
They handed their memorandum to PKR operations manager Nurul Huda Zainuddin under the watch of five policemen.