PETALING JAYA: Vowing not to forgive the Barisan Nasional candidate for Shah Alam, MIC vice- president M Saravanan has advised Indians not to vote for the Perkasa leader.
“I will never forgive him (Zulkifli). I will continue to tell Indians not to vote for him, he doesn’t deserve their votes.
“If I were to say something disrespectful towards Muslims or their beliefs and then apologise, do you think they will accept it?” he asked.
“It is the same, we are Malaysians and the thought of disrespecting other religion should never even cross our mind.
“I respect the Prime Minister’s (Najib Tun Razak) choice. But his candidacy degrades BN on the whole, he is a disgrace to the party,” said Saravanan, who is contesting the Tapah parliamentary seat.
In an old video clipping which surfaced recently, Zulkifli had questioned the Hindu concept of God and mocked the Ganges River, which is considered sacred by Hindus.
“I have been to Sungai Ganga before. How can you say it’s pure? There are chicken carcasses and small sticks floating,” Zulkifli had said in the video clip.
He has since apologised for his remarks.
PKR candidate confident in Tapah
Saravanan is defending the parliamentary seat against PKR’s K Vasanthakumar, who is contesting the polls for the first time.
Vasanthakumar carved a name for himself with Hindraf and was one of the five detained under the now defunct ISA after the 2007 Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur.
Tapah consists 38,000 registered voters with 46.47% Malays, 27.86% Chinese, 13.31% Indians and 12.36% others, including Orang Asli.
Speaking to FMT, Vasanthakumar was confident of beating the incumbent, saying that he was more capable in providing service to the voters of Tapah.
“I have done my research and I know what the people here need and want, I think I know more than anyone else,” he declared, when met in Tapah.
“Poverty is one of the main issues here. About 30% of the people here suffer from poverty. We promise to uphold our minimum wage pledge as stated in our manifesto,” he added.
He also claimed that the Orang Asli communities in the constituency have also shown confidence in him.
“I would like to take this opportunity to call Saravanan for a debate by April 27. Show me what you have done for the people here. Show me if you are a worthy enough to stay a second term.
“I would in turn reply with my grounds on how I would be able to perform better than you and serve the people of Tapah better,” he added.
‘Debate with the cows’
However Saravanan, who is also Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing deputy minister, brushed aside the invitation to debate with Vasanthakumar.
He slammed Vasanthakumar’s debate call, claiming that it was Pakatan’s “standard operating procedure” to call for a debate everytime they are on the losing end.
“They want to debate for every single thing, that doesn’t make sense. Why do I need to debate with him? The people know what I have done for them.
“I have published booklets on my work here for the last five years, you already have my side of the story. You can go ahead and debate with my book.
“If he wants, he can debate with the cows here. Even they know how much I’ve done for the people, don’t waste my time,” he added in jest.
Saravanan claimed that he has strong local support from all races and is confident of retaining the seat.
“The people here like me…I have performed not only for Indians but also for the Malays, Chinese and the Orang Asli. I know they want me to stay and continue to provide my service to them,” he said.
