Urimai chairman P Ramasamy today told his PSM counterpart that the views on race espoused by the parties in the loose coalition announced by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin might not be “inherently problematic”.
PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj said yesterday that his party had decided against participating in the coalition – which includes Urimai – as it was not comfortable with how many of the parties involved play on ethnic issues.
In response, Ramasamy said to suggest that the parties in the coalition were all “focussed solely on ethnic issues” was not a fair assessment.
“Even if ethnicity features on their respective agendas, the approaches differ significantly,” he said.
“Malay-based parties may be firm on questions of ethnic hegemony, while Indian-based parties may emphasise the marginalisation of Indians in the country.
“Raising ethnic issues is not inherently problematic – the key lies in what aspects of ethnicity are being addressed,” he said in a Facebook post.
On Monday, Muhyiddin said 11 opposition parties had agreed to form a loose coalition aimed at holding the government accountable and pressing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on reform pledges which they claimed had remained unfulfilled.
According to Muhyiddin, the coalition will comprise Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan, Pejuang, Muda, the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, Putra, Berjasa, Urimai, the Malaysian Advancement Party, and the National Indian Muslim Alliance Party.
