MIC and Samy Vellu: a truly dying breed
By Sim Kwang Yang
I have not been following the MIC party election that closely, because I know the outcome is predictable.
The outcome of the MIC party election is predictable, because, despite their humiliating thrashing in the last general election, this grand old party is still mired in the fossilised outdated and dying mode of strongman politics.
Strongman politics has died out elsewhere, in the old dictatorship in the Philippines, Indonesia, and elsewhere. It is that brand of politics where the entire political organisation or country is controlled by one domineering charismatic personality. The retirement of Dr. M marked the end of strongman politics in Malaysia. Whether it has ended in UMNO or not is yet to be seen.
The biggest problem with strongman politics is always that of succession. The strongman leader will always divide and rule those people under him, so that no one can threaten his monopoly on power. In the process, no one can be groomed to succeed the strongman when he is on the point of retirement or dying a natural death.
Naturally, a strongman will always forget that in an ideal organisation, no body is irreplaceable. Samy Vellu has refused to step down on the argument that if he does, the MIC will be reduced by 50%. At his great age, he is still clinging to power on the excuse that he has to groom his successor for a couple of more years. That means he has never tried to groom any successor at all in the past 30 years as MIC President.
Eventually, he gets his wish fulfilled and All the Presidents’ Men are elected. There are all kinds of allegations of money politics, such as cash, Haadyai trips, lavish dinners with free flowing whisky, and so on. We would not be surprised if such allegations are true.
The Malaysian Indians may be poor and marginalised, but the MIC must be very rich, with numerous skeletons hiding in the giant Maika Holding closet. Just look at the pictures of all those delegates on TV; do those delegates look like they are the type to fight for the rights of the poor marginalised Indians in West Malaysia?
Notice how Samy Vellu tries to blame UMNO and Dr. M for the MIC failure to live up to the Indians’ expectation of improving the socio-economic status of the Indians. It is not his fault that MIC failed. It is UMNO fault.
In this exercise of finger pointing, he has admitted that MIC has indeed failed in the purpose of the party. He has admitted that for all those long decades past, when voters consistently voted MIC reps into public office, for all those years that Samy was a federal minister, MIC had become a subservient submissive subjugated serf to UMNO.
