Indonesian political party sets up Malaysian chapter
Surya Paloh speaking at the official launch of Nasdem’s Malaysian chapter in Kuala Lumpur today.KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Indonesian political party Nasdem (Partai Nasional Demokrat) today launched its Malaysian chapter, pledging to keep an eye out for the republic’s two million citizens living and working here.
Funded by media tycoon Surya Parloh, who was formerly the advisory council chairman of Indonesia’s biggest political party Golkar, Nasdem aims to protect the rights and welfare of Indonesian workers and to recruit members before their country’s 2014 parliamentary elections. The launch at City Villa in Chow Kit today was attended by 500 people, including UDA Holdings Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who said he hoped the organisation would be able to bridge the gap between Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Our relationship with Indonesia is bad at the moment. He (Surya) is very influential and he can help become a bridge by reaching into problems they (Indonesian workers) face here,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
“Someone needs to be the intermediary to reach out to these people,” he added, pointing out “this might be good for the Malaysian government”.
Nur Jazlan also said the country’s largest political party Umno could learn from Golkar, “who was dominant for decades, but that they could just fall like that 15 years ago”.
“Umno is under the same pressure now. They need to be aware of the political situation now,” he said.
“They need to know that what happened in Indonesia can happen in Malaysia. Umno can learn from these experiences.”
