PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Party’s support for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim with regard to the sex video controversy has come under attack from a Pakatan Rakyat leader.Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, in his Twitter posting, questioned HRP’s pro-tem secretary- general P Uthayakumar’s decision to back Anwar.
“Why is the head of a hooligan racist party supporting Anwar, wants to be mandore!!!” he said.
HRP leaders have constantly used the mandore term on Indian elected representatives from both sides of the political divide who compromise the interests of their community in exchange for positions and perks.
The yet-to-be registered political party has also been critical of Pakatan, accusing the opposition coalition of not doing enough for the Indians.
Responding to his boss, Ramasamy’s aide M Satees tweeted: “They want 15/38 la Prof…”
This was in reference to the 15 parliamentary and 38 state seats with a high number of Indian voters which HRP aims to contest in the next general election.
‘It is a matter of principle’
Defending his party’s stand, HRP information chief S Jayathas said the decision to back Anwar was based on principle.
“Anwar is victimised by Umno and is being tried in the media, similar to Hindraf when Umno accused us of having links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),” he told FMT.
As for the mandore allegation, he said Ramasamy, who is also DAP deputy secretary-general, should read the definition of mandore and mandorism first, which were availabe on the HRP website (see link below).
On Satees’ comment about the 15/38 plan, Jayathas said that his party will not be contesting in any seats if Pakatan lives up to its pre-2008 polls promise of addressing Indian issues.
“They can start by resolving all land issues involving Hindu temples, cemeteries and Tamil schools with a stroke of the pen because they are already in the ‘Putrajaya’ of Kedah, Penang and Selangor.”
Meanwhile, Anwar’s daughter and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah welcomed HRP’s support for her father.
“We take comments in good faith. It is good when politicians, individuals across different vocations state a principled stance publicly,” she said.
On Monday, Uthayakumar said that he had watched the video and concluded that it was not Anwar. He also claimed that the video was designed to politically assasinate Anwar.
