Malaysian PM hails ethnic Indian voters

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has hailed the role of the ethnic Indian voters in Sunday’s parliamentary by-poll, which was won by a Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) candidate.

The ethnic Indian voter is back with the MIC, said P. Kamalanathan who won the Hulu Selangor by-election.

“Indians are back with MIC but that doesn’t mean the work is over. We still have a lot more to do,” he said.

Indians are less than a fifth of the 65,000 voters and were perceived to have voted with the opposition in 2008.

The Barisan Nasional alliance win is an affirmation for the politics and direction of Najib’s leadership, The Star said.

Malaysia is home to seven percent ethnic Indians, a bulk of them Tamils, along with majority Malays and ethnic Chinese, constituting a multi-racial 28 million population.