'If HRP is confident of support then go ahead and stand as independents. Why ask Pakatan to make way for them?'

HRP to Pakatan: Give us 15 parliamentary seats

Neders: P Uthayakumar, your party is still wet behind the ears and your clout is doubtful at best. Even in an Indian-dominated constituency, your candidate will be hard put to win given that you will not get the Chinese or Malay votes or maybe a few.

Don't flex your puny muscles and try to punch above your weight at this stage. Why don't you test your strength in a couple of state seats for a start and see how you fare. There is no point having your candidates losing their deposits hither thither and in the process jam Pakatan Rakyat.

As a matter of fact, you sound like you are holding Pakatan to ransom. Are you a BN stooge or what? Sorry mate, that's how I see things.

A Voice From The Wilderness: The only justification for HRP to enter the race is to take on BN seats. You will not only be given full support by Pakatan, the fence-sitters will equally, give you their full support... for being an underdog. Don't be cocky, and be colour blind. Fight for all marginlised Malaysians.

Justice Seeker: Uthayakumar, I think it is only appropriate if you join either PKR or DAP with your supporters. There is no doubt that in the GE12 tsunami, you and your supporter contributed to Pakatan's unexpected capture of five states and a big number of MPs in Parliament.

But you have to be realistic in your demands. For example, you cannot ask for the Lembah Pantai seat to be given to HRP. Nurul Izzah Anwar, the ‘Puteri Reformist', is an up-and-coming star in national politics.

By sabotaging Pakatan, what do you gain? You only create more chances for BN to win and the oppression of the Indians will continue.

Jay Tan: Take a look at the winning majorities of the 15 seats demanded by HRP:

1. Kota Raja - 20,751 (PAS)

2. Klang - 17,701 (DAP)

3. Ipoh Barat - 15,534 (DAP)

4. Tebrau - 14,658 (BN)

5. Rasah - 13,151 (DAP)

6. Alor Gajah - 12,884 (BN)

7. Padang Serai - 11,738 (PKR)

8. Batu Kawan - 9,485 (DAP).

9. Cameron Highlands - 3,117 (BN)

10. Lembah Pantai - 2,895 (PKR)

11. Teluk Kemang - 2,814 (PKR)

12. Bagan Datok - 2,692 (BN)

13. Sungai Siput - 1,821 (PSM)

14. Hulu Selangor - 1,725 (BN)

15. Kuala Selangor - 862 (PAS)

With some Pakatan seats being won with majorities above 10,000 votes, it does not make sense that they can be easily lost. HRP should instead ask for 15 BN seats, rather than 10 Pakatan and five BN seats.

Voice: The percentage of Indian voters in last general election:

1. Kota Raja (PAS - Siti Mariah Mahmud) - 28.3%

2. Bagan Datoh (BN - Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) - 23.3%

3. Kuala Selangor (PAS - Dzulkefy Ahmad) - 23.3%

4. Sungai Siput (PSM - Dr D Jeyakumar) - 22.6%

5. Batu Kawan (DAP - Ramasamy) - 22.4%

6. Padang Serai (PKR - N Gobalakrishnan - 22.2%

7. Teluk Kemang (PKR - Kamarul Baharin Abbas ) - 22.2%

8. Ipoh Barat (DAP - N Kulasegaran) - 21.8%

9. Rasah (DAP - Anthony Loke) - 20.4%

10. Hulu Selangor (BN - P Kamalanathan) - 19%

11. Klang (DAP - Charles Santiago) - 18.6%

12. Lembah Pantai (PKR - Nurul Izzah Anwar) - 18.2%.

13. Cameron Highlands (BN - SK Devamany) - 13.8%

14. Tebrau (BN - Teng Boon Soon) - 13.5%

15. Alor Gajah (BN - Fong Chan Onn) - 12.1%

So, why is HRP misleading the people that all these places have 30% Indian voters? And why are some constituencies with low Indian voters such as Klang, Lembah Pantai, Alor Gajah, Tebrau, etc, on HRP's list? Where is the basis for HRP demand?

Kgen: ‘Shameless' and ‘crazy' are the only words to describe Uthayakumar. Those seats he demanded from Pakatan are seats where Pakatan have excellent chance of winning. Why should Pakatan give them to this nincompoop campaigning on a racist platform?

If HRP is confident of support then go ahead and stand as independents. Why ask Pakatan to make way for them?

Albert: The marginalised Indians (especially Hindraf), Chinese and Malays (despite 40 years of affirmative action) must surely realise that the Umno-led BN should not be allowed to form the next government.

If right-thinking and sane Malaysians cannot see this after 53 years of misrule, corruption and abuse of power by the Umno-led government, I am pretty sure that the fat cats (Umno Malays, cronies and their family) will continue to laugh all the way to the bank leaving behind massive untold misery to the country and the masses.

There are only two ways to go in the next GE - either the Umno-led BN or Pakatan is forming the next government, not Hindraf or the third force. The choice is not difficult to make for the rakyat - vote for the Umno-led BN, the rakyat will continue to suffer despite 53 years of experience.

Gandhi: Yes, Uthaya go for it. You are going to make a difference. You are the only one I see raising the neglected Indian issues and have been consistent in highlighting a lot of prickly issues. MIC, Makkal Sakthi Party and other Indian parties are opportunists enjoying the perks of their position. Let people call you a nincompoop or whatever, but be steadfast in your crusade for the betterment of Indians.

Pakatan must get your support as you have a lot of silent Indian support. You are a fighter for the truth and will achieve your goal of Indians getting a fair deal. Show MIC and other jokers that you play a different brand of politics which is needed at this time. A lot of them are voices in wilderness who can't even lift a finger to help a poor brilliant student but use unhealthy language against you. God bless them anyway. Pakatan must join hands with HRP.

Makcik Har: Can somebody help me understand? HRP is an Indian party, right? Now they are asking for 15 seats. Out of the 15, there are five MPs of Indian origin. So they actually asking these five MPs to be thrown out. What kind of logic is this?

Voice: It is believed that approximately half of the Indian community are strong or die-hard Pakatan supporters. The votes from this group will most likely not go to BN or the third force. So, what HRP can do is to steal those votes from the other half of the community - those voting for BN. It appears that three-cornered fight might give Pakatan an advantage over BN.

Call me Jibby: "MIC is given at least nine parliament seats and 20 state assembly seats on a silver platter. Why can't we be allocated some, too?"

They claimed they are not MIC and won't be like MIC, but now they want to be treated like the Greater MIC.

Indians in Malaysia (particularly Hindraf/HRP) always equate their fight and struggle with Mahatma Gandhi. But when comes to choosing a leader, he must not only be a Tamil, but also fluent in speaking Tamil and must be a Hindu. Stop linking Gandhi with your fight and struggle. Gandhi is not even a Tamil and I doubt he could speak Tamil fluently.

Negotiate with Pakatan, but don't give ultimatums. Prove that the Indians are united as one by getting non-Tamil speaking Tamil, non-Tamil and/or non-Hindu as candidates. This is not Tamil Nadu.

Rolls-Royce: Uthaya, I think BN is more desperate than Pakatan so I think it is more feasible if you take your claim to BN. They may just replace you with MIC, Gerakan and Makkal Sakthi. And for the next 30 years, you will be just like S Samy Vellu, while the poor Indians continue to waste away in poverty and deprivation.

Whatever little respect I have for you has since long gone. If your cause is in the interest Indian Malaysians, you would have joined forces with Pakatan. How can you ever blame Pakatan for not doing enough for the Indians when Pakatan MPs are being tossed from the Dewan like bowling pins?

You are indeed the greatest self-serving and self-conceited nincompoop I ever known. I will blame you and curse you forever if BN continues to retain power because of your folly.

Phoenix Star 88: Why on earth should they be given 15 seats? There are more Indians in DAP and PKR than in HRP. They expect all the top Indian Pakatan MPs to make way for a party that is not even a household name in the Indian community?

HRP aspires to be a future version of MIC. Indian Malaysians should be aware now that having an Indian party doesn't really make much difference for them. There are about 2.2 million Indian Malaysians - they are outnumbered even by the foreign workers. Yet they have more political parties than the Malays.

Anonymous: With these demands, it is clear that HRP works for BN, in as much as Perkasa does. I am an Indian, but am amazed at the total and utter stupidity politicians from my community continue to exhibit.

The needs of Indians are best served by need-based policies, not race-based ones. Due to the inherently small number, and the distribution of Indian votes, they have the capability of being kingmakers in a small number of seats, but they cannot hope to win them on their own. But so what? You don't need an MP from an Indian party to implement need-based (read non-racist) policies.

Case in point, MIC - 50 years of those losers, and they did nothing for the Indian community. So far, HRP has done nothing that will convince me that they are just more of the same. I totally reject HRP, not just because they are a race-based party, but their behaviour, as with Perkasa, is equally abhorrent.

Anak Malaysia: Give Hindraf some seats to contest. Please also give them Bagan Datok so that they can kill racist Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's political career once and for all.

Rohan Tan: Indians have no other alternative but to demand. I think they are right in pushing for their agenda. Their leaders have short changed them so much that the community live in such a bad situation and it failed to get the attention of the mainstream media. That is why the Chinese and Malays don't seem to understand their problems. Tags of racist and fanaticism are hurled.

Uthaya and his HRP are principled and stick to their words. They are hard headed out of necessity. They are organised nationwide. Their grassroots support are strong and their machinery are well-organised. In return for 15 and 38 seats, Pakatan has a lot more to gain rather than demonise them.

It has been proven countless times - Hulu Selangor and Bagan Pinang have shown that without HRP and Uthaya's face on the ground, there is no way the Indian votes could be delivered. Well, it's up to Pakatan to make use of good alliance.

Wikileaks: The time is right for Pakatan to take up HRP's proposal. Just think, unequivocal support from the presently ambivalent Indian voters in all the Peninsula constituencies for Pakatan. Think about the implications of this to Pakatan. If HRP gives a call to all Indians to vote for Pakatan, the current ambivalence among the Indian voters will disappear in a moment. Think about what that means.

The fact is, Pakatan is at all-time low. Najib is taking advantage of that now. But if Pakatan goes in with a broad alliance with HRP/United Borneo Front/MCLM and Kita, BN can easily be toppled. But not any other way.

Does Pakatan now have the wisdom to understand that what the Malaysian electorate want is a more inclusive Malaysia in substance, not in appearance. Pakatan must accept this in principle and the details can be worked out. Let us now see what Pakatan's response is to this offer by HRP.

Armour Man: It is undeniable that Hindraf was a contributing factor in the opposition's good showing at GE12 but on its own, in a three-cornered fight, Hindraf will be annihilated. Hindaf can only be a spoiler and the winner will be BN.

And then what? Continuous poverty for the already poor Indians. Come on, get your act together.

Norman Fernandez: I think Uthayakumar and his band of merry men should ask BN instead of Pakatan Rakyat to give them the 15 paliamentary seats identified and ask BN to make way for them to contest against Pakatan. What arrogance...

AC: My bet is that Uthaya will lose his own deposit should he himself decide to contest.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paid subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .