“A Party which for years has been in absolute denial about the marginalization of Indians today finds itself marginalized in the ruling coalition.” – G. Krishnan (Imagine)
The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is more often in the news for wrong reasons. Reports were rife both in the print and on line media during the week ending 11 April 2009 that the MIC was considering pulling out its representatives from the cabinet. The MIC has one Minister and two Deputy Ministers in the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Razak comprising 28 ministers and 40 deputy ministers.
The avowed reason is that the party has not been given adequate representation in the cabinet keeping in mind that it is the third largest component of the ruling coalition. The ostensible reason is that Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, the President of the MIC has not been given a berth in the ministry while another political reject Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon of Gerkan (another component of the ruling coalition) was made a minister through a senatorial appointment.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, while speaking to the press on 13 April in a different connection stopped short of snubbing the MIC by saying that dissatisfaction over cabinet appointments should not be aired openly but should be taken up with the Prime Minister by the party president.
The MIC central working committee met on 16 April 2009 to discuss this issue. At the end of the meeting Samy Vellu announced that it (MIC) would support the leadership of Razak and will not pull out from the Government. It (pulling out) turned out to be an empty threat.
The MIC which had a fine track record of winning most of the seats allotted to it both at the federal and state level till 2004, fared miserably in the 2008 General elections. The party managed to retain only 3 of the 9 parliamentary seats and 6 of the 19 State seats it contested. The President of the MIC (Samy Vellu), Deputy President, two Vice Presidents, the Youth Chief and the Women’s Wing Chief, all lost in the elections.
Datuk Seri Samy Vellu is the president of the party since 1979. Since the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally on 25 November 2007, the Indian community has shown its displeasure to Samy vellu, on many occasions by jeering him at meetings, by blocking his car at his meetings, by boycotting the Thai Pusam festivities at Batu caves and by voting for the opposition in the general elections. Taking responsibility for the dismal performance in the last general elections, he should have been magnanimous to hand over the reins. Instead he has launched a grandiose plan for rebranding the party and has even re-elected himself as the president for one more term till 2013. Though he had said that this will be his last term, he declined to nominate his successor. Perhaps he can take a cue from the Indian politicians (especially from Tamil Nadu) and groom his son Vell Paari for the top slot.
Samy Vellu has run the party as though it is his fiefdom with no room for other promising leaders to perform or go up the ladder. He can not brook any opposition to his policies or challenges to his leadership. He expelled such leaders or side lined them in these last three decades. In the late 80s, Vice President M G Pandithan who had crossed swords with him was expelled and he had started a party called the Indian Progressive Front. In the early 90s Datuk Subramanian (Subra) and Datuk Pathmanabhan had challenged his leadership and they were sidelined. It is only now Datuk Subra and Samy Vellu seemed to have patched up their differences. Even in the last party presidential election in March 2009 he saw that Datuk Muthupalaniappan who challenged him was disqualified even to contest for the post of the president.
Despite advice from various quarters Samy Vellu took it on himself to campaign for the MIC candidate in the by-election held on 07 April 2009 at Bukit Selambu in the state of Kedah. His herculean effort and his personal presence in the constituency came to no avail, and the MIC candidate lost to a rank outsider from the opposition party, Party Kedilan Rakyat (PKR)This was the last straw and it is no surprise that the ruling coalition is unhappy with him and the party.
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which had kindled the “Makkal Sakthi” or “Peoples Power” in the Indians in Malaysia, has considerably eroded the credibility of the MIC. The ruling coalition has been rather arrogant in dealing with the demonstrations of the Hindraf on 25 November 2007 and the subsequent arrest of its five leaders under the ISA. The MIC did not voice its concern and towed the line of the ruling coalition. Bridget Welsh of Johns Hopkins University who covered the general elections 2008 in Malaysia wrote “It is not a coincidence that Devamany S Krishasamy, the MP from Cameron Highlands, who had the bravery to at least acknowledge concerns, was reelected and Samy Vellu, who justified the arrests, lost”.
The Indians with just about 7% of the total population has been at the receiving end for decades. “Even if the entire Indian community chose to vote for the opposition the government would still maintain a majority” wrote Clarence Fernandez, prior to the general elections in March 2008. To elaborate this point a media report indicated that in only 62 parliamentary and 130 state seats Indians comprise 10 percent or more of the registered voters. Hence the Indians cannot expect to get much by venting their anger in the elections but this time (March 2008) they have done so and this combined with the demonstrations of Hindraf have given a wake up call to the MIC and the Government.
Datuk Samy Vellu himself in one of his election speeches said that “Indians were facing lack of education opportunities, unemployment and inadequate housing facilities leading to sprouting of illegal urban squatters as well as low literacy level”. He added that the progress of ethnic Indians who have migrated from rural to urban areas, is being impeded by a host of social ills “like alcoholism, increasing school drop out rate and high crime rate”. When questioned as to what MIC had done to address these issues, the answer was vague to indicate that the MIC has taken the responsibility on itself and is doing its best under the circumstances.
Can MIC afford to pull its representatives out of the cabinet and also the party out of the ruling coalition? It can pull out its representatives from the cabinet but does not want to pull out from the ruling coalition. If so it achieves nothing. The party has decayed so much in the last three decades and the majority of the Indian community is disenchanted and has gone towards the opposition knowing fully well that it may be a gamble.
The party must reinvent itself to be relevant to the Government and to the Indian Community to take any such strong decision. As on date it is neither
By C. S. Kuppuswamy
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