KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — The personal attacks on Bersih co-chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan at her home are not racial, but due to her role as leader of Bersih, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said such incidents, including protests in front of Ambiga’s house in Bukit Damansara, were not supported by the MIC, Umno and MCA.

“They have stated their disapproval of such protests. Yes, Ambiga (picture) is part of our community but the public’s anger is directed at her because of her role in the movement,” he told reporters after presenting a cheque for RM100,000 to set up classes for autistic children, here today. 

Subramaniam, who is also MIC deputy president, said this when asked if the attacks on Ambiga were racially motivated.

“The issue here is that the government has provided them a chance to state their opinion in not only one place, but the whole country, and we do not need street demonstrations,” he said, adding that the Bersih rally was used as a political tool by various quarters.

He revealed the Indian community had also started to realise that each form of assistance and move by the opposition to supposedly help them was not sincere, but to achieve a political agenda.

He said this was evident when a recent rally held by the community in Brickfields did not get much support as compared to 2007.

“I was told they did not receive the support they expected and Indian supporters went there thinking this was the opposition’s attempt to garner votes,” he added.

Citing an example, Subramaniam said the opposition had conducted a programme for Indians to get identification cards but prior to the registration process, participants were forced to hear campaign talk from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and other opposition leaders.

“Their identification card programme did not even involve the National Registration Department. This is different from ours, whereby we don’t have political ceramah,” he said.

As a result, the MIC had solved over 6,000 identification card cases for the Indian community, he said, adding that although the government had its weaknesses, Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders had gone down to the field and were continuously rectifying any shortcomings. — Bernama