Ethnic Indians complaining of racial inequality may vote against the ruling party in the general elections, according to Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Badawi.

His comments came in the backdrop of protests by the community, including a huge rally of over 20,000 people in November 2007, declared illegal by the government, against its alleged marginalisation organised by the non-governmental Hindu Rights Action Forum (Hindraf). The government has denied the allegations.

"I have given instructions that whatever grouses they (ethic Indians) have should be attended to. We take these matters seriously and I have even made time to listen to them," Abdullah told the local Star daily.

Asked if the issue of ethnic Indians raised by Hindraf would influence how the community would vote in polls, he said, "Yes, I think votes will be affected somewhat".

Abdullah heads the Barisan Nasional coalition party, which is widely expected to win the polls, likely to take place in a few months' time.

Since the November protest, the government has started looking into several issues raised by the ethnic Indians, including the demolition of Hindu temples.

The prime minister in January also declared the Hindu festival of Thaipusam a public holiday. Ethnic Indians, who form 7.8 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million population, had been urging the government for several years to declare the festival a public holiday.

Commenting on the issue of Hindu temples, Abdullah said he had asked the chief minister to let the Hindu organisations decide how they would tackle 'the number of illegal temples in Selangor', a state in central Malaysia.

Several Hindu temples were built by ethnic Indians, brought into Malaysia by the British as indentured labourers, near places where they worked, mainly plantations. However, with the razing down of plantations in many areas, the temples now occupy private land.

Abdullah, in the interview, said the government had been 'working hard' to eradicate poverty. "We have reduced it (poverty rate) to 3.5 per cent and hardcore poor is down to 0.7 per cent, although obviously there are still poor people in the country," he said.

He admitted that though the job is not yet done, there had been a lot of progress and noted that the poor strata did not have only the ethnic Indians but also Chinese and Malays.