Don’t know how to kowtow to “towkay” Ramasamy brands Rayer as another Indian ‘mandor’, DAP sycophant

Focus Malaysia:

Don’t know how to kowtow to “towkay” Ramasamy brands Rayer as another Indian ‘mandor’, DAP sycophant

By Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy

THE current DAP Jelutong MP and Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) chairman S. Nethaji Rayer (main image; second from right) has criticised me as being “bitter and ungrateful” (Malaysian Insight, June 5, 2024).


I don’t want to stoop as low as Rayer in calling him names because he is just acting on behest of his political bosses or trying to please them in DAP.

I have known Rayer for more than 15 years but one thing certain with him is that he is nowhere in politics without the guidance of his party patrons.

His rise in the DAP is not because of his independence or leadership but loyalty to certain political patrons starting with former DAP chairman the late Karpal Singh who was Rayer’s patron saint.

I understand that Rayer has switched his loyalty bordering on servility or obsequiousness to some others in the higher echelons of DAP.

Without this obsequiousness, Rayer will not be tolerated in the party. He is basically an empty vessel during parliamentary settings except for some shouting matches with opposition MPs.

Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy


‘Rayer’s accusation makes me proud’

Once he was a political enemy of UMNO but today he rubs shoulders with leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) ‘big brother’. Once the party makes decisions, Rayer will slavishly or blindly follow them even if there are flaws.

Rayer can call me hypocrite, opportunist or whatever he likes. He transfers these terms to me and others because Rayer is the perfect embodiment of what is wrong with a politician like him.

In fact, if one needs to understand these terms, just study Rayer’s behaviour and temperament.

I am glad that Rayer has accused me of being obsessed with Hindu-Indian issues. In other words, he is saying that I am addressing their rights faithfully and without fear.

However, by paying only lip-service to the needs of the Indian community, DAP leaders like Rayer and others only pretend to function within the multi-racial framework of DAP.

DAP’s multi-racialism is a convenient cloak to hide the hegemonic intentions of the dominant ethnic group in the party.

I feel proud that I have been accused of being obsessed with only taking up Indian issues. Sure, when the community has been neglected in the name of multi-racialism, then I think that I am vindicated by being obsessed with the Indian community.

By the way, Karpal Singh never supported me in DAP as I came into the party on the basis of my own strength, support from the Indian community and others. On the contrary, Karpal was against me in the last few years before his death.


“Striking more blows on PH/DAP”

Rayer and others can say whatever they want. They can call me bitter, ungrateful, opportunist or whatever they wish to. Using these terms actually means that I have done the right thing to leave DAP.

Why should I be grateful to a party that has no interest whatsoever in addressing the woes of the Indian community.

The Urimai interim council led by Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy (fourth from left)

The party might reward certain Indian leaders for their blind servility. Certainly, Ramasamy is not the person who will kowtow to the “towkays” in DAP.

Whether the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led coalition leaders admit it or not, Urimai was the source of panic in the recently-concluded Kuala Kubu Baharu (KKB) by-election.

Urimai’s call not to support the PH/DAP candidate resulted in the low Indian voter turnout. Without Urimai, there would not be the RM75 mill housing projects for estate workers.

Urimai will apply the lessons learnt in the KKB by-election to strike a much more severe blow on the PH-led coalition in the upcoming Sungai Bakap by-election.

Let us see whether the “Indian” Rayer or others can have any traction with the Indians in the PAS-held state constituency.

I am prepared to take on Rayer and other PH-led coalition mandor in the Sungai Bakap polls. – June 5, 2024



Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.