Day of reckoning for Samy Vellu and MIC

MIC leaders are promising the Indian community changes but the question is whether they are in sync with the rest of Indian Malaysians, writes ZUBAIDAH ABU BAKAR

By Zubaidah Abu Bakar (NST)

THE voice of minority Indian Malaysians, representing two million of the country's 27 million population, has been loud in the past few years.

Demands by the community have been expressed openly, with issues being championed by various groups.

The Indian community's deep-rooted feelings of being marginalised were expressed through the ballot box when many abandoned the 63-year-old Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) in the general election last year.

Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu returned unopposed as MIC president for the 11th term in March this year

Even Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who has helmed the party since 1979, suffered a defeat in the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency.

The outlawed Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) that took over MIC's role to champion their cause successfully influenced Indian voters to revolt against Barisan Nasional parties, changing the country's political landscape.

Samy Vellu, returned unopposed as party president for the 11th term in March, acknowledged that Hindraf had taken away about 45 per cent of the Indian community from MIC by telling them of a new avenue available for them through the opposition.

In an interview with the New Straits Times yesterday, Samy Vellu, who is very much in control of the party, insisted that MIC and Hindraf in fact shared the same aspirations.

"They have made public the needs of the Indians. Before that, we conveyed it officially to the government," he said when asked how Hindraf had affected MIC as a political entity.

MIC, the country's oldest party of ethnic Indians, claims to speak for the Indian community although many Indians, particularly the middle class, distance themselves, largely making MIC a working-class party.

For many of the middle-class and the affluent, unless MIC can show that it is ready for real change — for the betterment of the community, the party is not their choice.

"They have options. There are other political parties, including new emerging Indian-based parties that can represent them," says Dr Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Within BN, options are the People's Progressive Party and Gerakan and in the opposition's stable are DAP, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and even Pas under the party's Supporters' Club.

 

Indian-based parties like Indian Progressive Front (IPF), and the emerging Malaysian Indians United Party (MIUP), Parti Hak Asasi Manusia (Paham), Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP), and the Malaysian Indian Democratic Action Front (Mindraf) are also becoming formidable competitors.

MIC's refusal to listen or act on proposals aimed at the betterment of the Indian community by non-political groups and in not making itself easily accessible to Indians to voice their issues and frustrations had pushed the birth of Hindraf in 2005.

Academicians and professional Indians took pains to seek solutions to the long-standing problems among Indians at the Millennium Conference for Malaysian Indians in 2002.

Working papers and proposals of an action plan were passed to MIC, but nothing fruitful came out of it.

"There are proposals we want MIC to take up… to get things moving.

"There's got to be implementation of specific policies to introduce change, not just mere talk," says academician Professor Datuk Dr C.P. Ramachandran.

While listing the negative statistics that Indians feature highest in his keynote address at the conference, Ramachandran also highlighted statistics that are far from depressing, like the Indians constituting 15.5 per cent of professionals in the country, including doctors (28.4 per cent), lawyers (26.8 per cent), dentists (21 per cent), veterinary surgeons (28.5 per cent), engineers (6.4 per cent), accountants (5.8 per cent), surveyors (3.0 per cent), architects (1.5 per cent), scientists and of successful individuals in telecomunication, media, construction and other businesses.

Among the negative statistics are the Indians recording the second-highest infant mortality rates; the highest school drop-out rates, best seen in the data that only five per cent of Indians reach the tertiary level compared with the national average of 7.5 per cent; the highest incidence of alcoholism, that cuts across all classes; the highest incidence of drug addiction in proportion to population; the highest number of prisoners in proportion to population and the largest number of gangs. Sixty per cent of serious crimes are committed by Indians.

Samy Vellu had accepted that MIC, with 630,000 members, needs reforms and changes to remain relevant.

The party had embarked on a rebranding exercise that aims to "change the thinking, attitude and performance of the branch leaders to be in tune with the times".

Other reforms include amending the party constitution and concentrating on quality branches rather than quantity.

Tomorrow is a crucial day for MIC where senior leaders will be elected to office.

Will the voice of the 1,464 voting delegates end up in the Indian community staying firmly away from MIC, or provide a ray of hope that they could come back?

The mood on the ground is still not encouraging since the March 8 electoral disaster, in which almost three quarters of MIC's candidates lost the parliamentary seats to the opposition.

Indians outside MIC harbour hopes that the delegates, given the huge responsibility to make a difference for the future of Indians, would understand the importance of the elections and vote wisely.

Delegates would cast their votes to pick a deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members.

The deputy president's race would be a toss between incumbent and president-endorsed candidate Datuk G. Palanivel, former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam and vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan.

As part of MIC's rejuvenation plan, Samy Vellu had introduced new faces in his line-up for the party elections, including for the three posts of vice-president, namely Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramanim, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk S.K. Devamany and Federal Territories Deputy Minister Datuk M. Saravanan.

Seven candidates are vying for the vice-president seats and 65 are eyeing the CWC seats.

Campaigning by the aspirants for these posts have been extensive and intense with mudslinging, character assassinations and allegations of vote buying coming into the picture.

It makes one wonder if certain leaders are sincere in clamouring to help the community or are merely jostling for positions of power.

Their battles also took to cyberspace where at least four websites conducted online polls on who's best for the posts. Various blogs had also encouraged comments on the party and candidates.

Considering the power wielded by Samy Vellu in the party, especially his control over the majority of the voting delegates through the division leaders, the results of the elections may only upset a little.

But given the tangible sense of discontentment in the community, the MIC leader may not get his way.