Opinion: Anwar is the most disappointing PM for the Indians? Is Ramasamy factual or emotional?

Opinion: Anwar is the most disappointing PM for the Indians? Is Ramasamy factual or emotional?


17 May 2025 • 5:30 PM MYT


TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher

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Former Penang deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy is set to be charged with graft tomorrow (14 May) , but before that happens, he is firing shots at the PH government, by casting doubt about its ability to win the next election.


Echoing Rafizi, who also suddenly realised that PH’s chances of winning the next election is low, only after his position in PKR was challenged, Ramasamy is also seeing the the light when he feels the heat, by proclaiming that Anwar is the most disappointing Prime Minister that the Indians have ever had, and that PH's chances of forming the government in the next election is bleak.


Personally, I am finding it hard to put too much stock in what the likes of Ramasamy or Rafizi have to say about the electoral chances of PH.


A big part of the reason why I find it so hard to take their prediction seriously, is because I have doubts if they would be saying that DAP and PKR will crash in the next election, if they were flying high in DAP and PKR. When you have reputation of saying that someone will do well when you were with them, but then make an about turn and start claiming that they are bound to crash when you are are booted out or about to be booted out from their fold, it doesn't speak well of your objectivity and intellectual capacity.


While I also do believe that the Indians, by and large, do find Anwar disappointing, I hardly think that Anwar is the most disappointing PM that we ever had.


62 percent of Indians might want Najib to be released from prison today, but that is likely only because Anwar has disappointed them, not that they are such big fans of Najib. Amongst all the ethnic groups in the country, after the Chinese, Indians were likely the ones that were the happiest to see Najib go to jail. Considering that, to make it sound as if the Indians have always been behind Najib, just because 62 percent of us want him out of jail today, is without insight.


Also, if you take a vote on the prime ministers that Indians are disappointed the most, I still think that it is Mahathir that will be the one to take the top spot. Let us also not forget that it was under Pak Lah that the biggest anti-government Indian movement in the country, the Hindraf 2007 movement, took place. As for Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri, their reputation amongst Indians is actually very humdrum. In one sense, you can perhaps argue that the fact that they have neither disappointed us or won our appreciation, means that they will rank higher than Anwar in our esteem, but in another way of looking at it, I think between Muhyiddin, Anwar and Ismail Sabri, the one that will likely be able to rise in esteem amongst the Indians, is still Anwar on account of the fact that as disappointed as we are with Anwar, the very fact that we are disappointed with him means that he is still very much on our mind. When you are on someone’s mind, even if they are disappointed with you today, all you have to do is just do something to win their approval tomorrow, and you can win them over again. As for Ismail Sabri or Muhyiddin however, who are not even on the Indian community’s mind, first they will have to do something to be on our mind, then they have to do something to win our approval, and then only will they have a chance to win us to their side.


As disappointing as Anwar might be to the Indian community today, if an election is held today, and we had to choose between PH and PN, who in their right mind will say that we are going to cast our votes for PN?


Even if most of us loathe to vote for PH today, when we realise that without our votes, PN and PAS might come to power, I think we will still be able to drag our feet to the voting booth, to prevent that from happening. Afterall, we mind fight Anwar disappointing, but PAS is downright alarming us.


Also, other than the fact that the only alternative we have to Anwar is PAS, the fact that Anwar is the one in power today and the fact that elections are about two years away also favors Anwar.


People might root for the underdog, but they will always follow the winner. Whatever it is, they will never stand with a loser.


Right now, the Indians might be disappointed with Anwar, but in our mind, he still looks like a winner. As a matter of fact, it is precisely because he looks like he such a winner, while we feel that we are falling behind, that we are so disappointed with him. When many of us feel that we have backed him so wholeheartedly before, we don't understand why he is not doing much to make us feel like we are on the winning side, now that he is shining so brightly as a winner.


PN is also not an underdog that we can root for. PN has such a long way to go before it will be able to rehabilitate its image with the non-Malays, that not only is it very unlikely that the non-Malays will see PN as a alternative to PH in the next two years, when push comes to shove, the non-Malays will likely still stand behind PH, even if they are not fully satisifed with PH, just to keep PN at bay.


As for Ramasamy, the best that we can say about him is that he is an activist sort of person who is running an NGO sort of party. As to whether the Indians appreciate what he is doing, I have my doubts. To an extent, I suppose we do appreciate his NGO like activities, especially the ones that involves the community, but if you ask me whether what he is doing is making him seen as a leader for the community, I doubt he is making much of a headway. Indians today are in a self-hating phase . As much as we are disappointed with someone like Anwar, our disappointment with our the political representation that our own kind is able to offer is a head an shoulder higher. While we do hear the rumbling from the ground, about how its about time that we choose on of our own to lead us, rather than count on multiracial parties like PKR or DAP to take care of our rights, interest and prospect, our past trauma with self-serving and bickering leaders of our own kind, who not only betrayed, used and exploited us for their own personal advantage, but are also so self absorbed and egoistical that they can't even sit on the same table to discuss the community's problem, is so strong, that I daresay that there is no Indian leader or Indian party that the Indians are willing to throw the support behind at the moment.


Anwar also, if you notice, has not done anything to make the Indians feel that he has betrayed us. We are simply disappointed with him because he has not done as much as we had hoped for him and seemingly keeping us at arms length. But the fact that we don’t think he has betrayed us, coupled with the fact that he is the one in power, and added with the fact that the election is two years away, means that before election, Anwar just has to do a couple of things to win the favour of the Indians, and we will likely be holding his banner once again.


Not only the Indians, I bet even Rafizi and Ramasamy will probably be holding Anwar’s banner again, if Anwar extends his arms to them in friendship.


The problem with someone like Ramasamy saying that Indians will abandon PH in the next election, is that it rings hollow, on account of the fact that even he doesn’t look like he believes in what he says.


Ramasamy might be disappointed with PH today, because they government is delaying registering his party, and because he is facing graft charges, but how many of us think that Ramasamy will still be so against PH in the future, if his party is registered, it is welcome into PH and Ramasamy himself is promised the position of a minister if PH wins the next election?


The problem with aspiring Indian leaders like Ramasamy, is that when they lose, they will say that WE are losing, but when they win, they won't say WE are winning. Instead they will say that they want to be Malaysians or inclusive or celebrate diversity and be race blind and whatnot, just to keep us at arms length and enjoy their victory all by themselves.


Anwar is doing the same thing to us too, but he doesn't do it too obviously, and the fact that he is a Malay, doesn't make what he does seem like a betrayal, even if it is disappointing.


On the other hand, when your own kind does it to you, it cuts deep like a knife behind your back put there by someone your trusted like a brother.


It is this sort betrayal by our kind that has traumatised the Indian community so badly, that has brought us to this sad pass, where we would rather have an outsider leading us, than one of our own kind.