The entry of a hitherto shunned ethnic Hindu body into the folds of the Prime Minister's department has rattled Malaysia's largest Indian-origin political party.
The Malaysian Indian Congress has objected to Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) being given charge of the government's Indian Affairs unit.
The Hindraf is a coalition of 30 Hindu non-governmental organisations committed to the preservation of Hindu community rights and heritage in multiracial Malaysia.
"MIC is the mother party of the Indian community since 1946, and we have been doing a good job, and will continue to eradicate long-standing problems," G Palanivel, MIC party supremo said.
Hindraf had been outlawed after it held a massive illegal rally attended by thousands of ethnic Indians in 2007 to protest against alleged discriminatory policies which favoured ethnic Malays.
It's chairman P Wayathamoorthy this April decided to switch loyalties and vowed to support Prime Minister Najib Razak's coalition in the May 5 general elections that saw ethnic Indians returning to the ruling Barisan Nasional fold.
Wayathamoorthy was subsequently rewarded with a deputy minister post in the Prime Minister's Department.
Palanivel said the unit should not be headed by Waythamoorthy.
"The (Indian Affairs) unit must be under the MIC. We cannot have two separate organisations functioning for the same community," Palanivel said while noting that the Special Cabinet Committee for ethnic Indians under the Prime Minister's Department and headed by the MIC, had changed the lives of thousands of Indians, including them in the mainstream development of the country.
He was speaking to reporters after chairing the Central Working Committee meeting at the party headquarters here today.
He also announced that Youth MIC Coordinator and Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan had been appointed the party's ethnic Indian education council chief.
Malaysia is home to one of the largest communities of overseas Indians at 2.4 million, constituting about 8 per cent of the population.
