SHAH ALAM, May 19- Selangor Gerakan chief A. Kohilan Pillay (photo) has suggested that at least two Indians be appointed in the Selangor State Executive Committee to better serve the needs of the Indian community and promote a more inclusive politics.
He said this was because Selangor has one of the largest Indian concentration, in terms of population, and as such, two exco seats for Indians would be the best move to reach out to the community.
“Issues ranging from temple to estates have been a major concern for many Indians in Selangor since the Pakatan took over the state government in 2008, and an additional Indian representative in the exco line-up is needed to voice the community’s long-standing concerns,” he told Bernama in an interview today.
Kohilan, who contested and lost the Puchong parliamentary seat in the 13th General Election on May 5, believes that appointing two Indian excos would not be a problem in the opposition pact-led Selangor Government comprising DAP, PAS and PKR as two Indians were already appointed to the DAP-led Penang Government’s state executive committee.
For the first time in Penang, two Indians — Deputy Chief Minister (II) Dr P. Ramasamy and Jagdeep Singh Deo — were appointed to the new line-up.
Meanwhile, MIC Youth chief T. Mohan said the Indians had contributed a lot to the opposition pact to retain power in Selangor.
“Two Indian excos is needed to overcome any shortcoming in future,” he said, adding the opposition pact in Selangor should be “very sensitive” to the plight of the Indian community.
Malaysian Coalition of Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George was reported to have said that two excos in the Selangor executive council line-up would help serve the Indian community better.
In the previous Pakatan administration, Dr Xavier Jayakumar from PKR who successfully defended his Seri Andalas state seat in the May 5 polls, was the sole Indian representative in the Selangor exco. He was the state health, plantation workers, poverty and caring government exco.
Speculation is rife that DAP may also pick an Indian to represent the party in the exco line-up for it to portray a multi-racial image. If that is the case, DAP will chose between V. Ganabathirau, state assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah, and of R. Rajiv (Bukit Gasing).
According to a party source, in 2008, DAP only had former Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan as its non-Chinese assemblyman and since he was held under the Internal Security Act back then, the party had no option but to pick all Chinese for the exco positions.
At the 12th General Election in 2008, PKR won 15 state seats in Selangor, while DAP and PAS won 13 and eight seats, respectively.
The 2008 exco line-up saw DAP and PAS having three representatives while PKR had four. The grapevine has it that the composition of the line-up may change this time around, as DAP and PAS won 15 seats each in the just-concluded general election on May 5. PKR won 14 seats.
Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who was sworn in as Selangor menteri besar for a second term on Tuesday, had said that the exco selection process was underway and would be announced in a week after getting the consent from the Sultan of Selangor.
– BERNAMA
