Kimma gives up on trying to join Barisan Nasional

KUALA LUMPUR: After years of unsuccessful attempts to join Barisan Nasional, Kimma (Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress) says it will no longer apply to formally join the coalition as a component party, says its president Datuk Seri Syed Ibrahim Kader (pic).

He said the decision was unanimously reached by the Kimma leadership and grassroots members.

In his speech during Kimma’s general assembly here, Syed Ibrahim said Kimma will only change its stand when Barisan extends an invitation to the Indian-Muslim party to join the coalition.

“For so long, our applications were not accepted and the reason given was that Barisan had failed to reach a consensus (to allow Kimma to join Barisan).

“There’s a certain party that keeps blocking our application and until today, we are still waiting for an answer. But how long can we wait? As president, I’m not sure how long we can keep doing this.“Starting now, we will no longer submit any application to join Barisan as a component party. But if Barisan invites us, we will accept it.

This is the decision made, not by me, but by all of our members and this decision has been finalised by our supreme council,” he said to loud cheers during a party event held at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur yesterday.Following the decision, Syed Ibrahim said Kimma has decided to focus on strengthening its position as an Umno associate member. However, he said to date, there has been no clear indication that Kimma is fully accepted by Umno at state, division and branch levels.

He claimed that Umno members and leaders at state level will only entertain Kimma when the party needs to strengthen its machinery during an election and is later ignored when Barisan has won. Therefore, he urged Barisan chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, to make a decision that would no longer leave Kimma to struggle on its own.

“I understand that you (Ahmad Zahid) have to make many people happy, but Kimma needs you to make a decision that is inclusive.

“We are ‘drowning’ and we need our big brother Umno to save us. I don’t want my community, the Indian Muslims, to be treated like a ball being kicked around.

“Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak never neglected us. But now, many Indian-Muslim children can’t even get an opportunity to study in universities.

“We would like to ask for a Kimma representative to be appointed as senator so that at the very least, there will be someone who can voice our issues to the government,” he added.