A question to ponder for PSM in Ayer Kuning

Arjun Das

Interesting developments have begun to take place in the laid back semi urban constituency of Ayer Kuning in Tapah.

For the first time ever, two little known Indian parties have teamed up together in support of PSM which has fielded its Perak chairwoman, Bawani KS.

The two are Urimai – a protem party led by former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy and Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) that is led by P Waythamoorthy.

MAP vice president Kumaran Adaikalam called on voters to back Bawani.

“‘MGR’ has revealed his true colours. It’s time for the community to hold Pakatan Harapan accountable for short-changing them,” he said in reference to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, while addressing the 14 percent Indian voters.

MGR is the late Tamil film legend MG Ramachandran and he is often used to mock Anwar who is fond to dance to MGR’s songs while courting Indian votes.

Contrasting new ‘allies’

The cooperation shown by Urimai and MAP for PSM is interesting the two parties are not allies with PSM.

PSM is in an alliance with Muda and left parties such as Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

One thing is certain and that is neither Urimai nor MAP have elected representatives in the state legislative assemblies and the parliament at federal level. PSM and PRM are in the same boat.

Muda has one parliament and state seat that was obtained during its cooperation with Pakatan Harapan.

The question now for PSM would be, how would it accommodate Urimai and MAP?

Both PSM and Muda are multiracial parties whereas Urimai and MAP are race based parties.

Perhaps it should follow the steps of Semangat 46 that had two alliances to accommodate different groups.

Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah was made up of Islamist parties with Semangat 46 in the early 1990s.

Gagasan Rakyat was formed by Semangat 46 to get the DAP into a coalition.

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