MIC cannot be faulted for holding talks with Perikatan Nasional (PN) as it wants to ensure its political survival, says Urimai chairman P Ramasamy.
Ramasamy also said that MIC, which he described as a loyal Barisan Nasional (BN) component, had never abandoned the coalition’s lynchpin Umno in its political troubles.
However, he said MIC failed to realise that under changing circumstances, Umno would not return the favour.
“If Umno could embrace DAP for its own political survival, there is nothing wrong with MIC holding talks with PN to guarantee its survival,” he said in a Facebook post.
MIC president SA Vigneswaran said on Saturday that the party had held informal discussions with PN about its political direction.
Vigneswaran said the party’s leadership was examining the matter seriously after the approval of several resolutions on MIC supporting PN and a possible exit from BN by the party’s state leaderships in Kedah, Perak and Penang.
Ramasamy said “the real problem” with MIC was its overdependence on Umno for seat allocations.
“Over the years, MIC took for granted that its position in BN was unassailable and that Umno would continue to honour its consociational ties,” he added.
He said Umno could not blame MIC for holding talks with PN, and that Umno’s political embrace of DAP was a betrayal of MIC and MCA, as well as a violation of “the very spirit of BN’s consociational practice”.
“If Umno can stab MIC and MCA in the back, it is only fair that MIC seeks greener and more promising pastures in the oppositional realm,” he added.
