The night Rosmah's face melted and Palanivel became the Agriculture minister

A live telecast on Astro Beyond channel 222 and the belated Ponggal Festival in Kapar began without the the true essence of Ponggal in the air or in the hearts of those who attended.

Why this "kolaveri " Ponggal celebration, and why did MIC make a fool out of the Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Dr Rosmah Mansor, ministers in dutiful attendance Koh Tsu Koon, Liow Tiong Laiand Rais Yatim. Well, the answer lies in the 13th general election or GE-13. Najib would have said to Palanivel 'go ahead, make me a fool but make sure you get the numbers and wrest Kapar from Big Mike' ( MP for Kapar, S Manickavasagam).

It was like watching the Tamil movie 'SIVAKASI' where protagonist brings on a famous movie star (Nayantara) to dance and captivate the people to vote for him, but the hero, Vijay whose sister is the opposition candidate, steals the show right under the protagonist's nose. I was expecting Big Mike to do it, but he didn't make an appearance.

Well, MIC and Astro went to all the trouble of bringing in the famous "Koothu" singers and film stars from Kollywood (Tamil Bollywood) to grace the event by singing "koothu" songs and dance to the tune of these. The Kapar Kilat Clup ground was fully covered for the event, I'm sure big 'moolahs' were spent for the artistes as well as the TV direct telecast. Well, perhaps it could have been free since Astro has a soft spot for the current government.

Rosmah's face began to melt

For 3 solid hours Najib and Rosmah sat through the show looking bored and tired. During closeups of Rosmah, you could see that her face was melting. Why such an effect I don't know, but it was weird.

The highlight of the show apart from all the "Koothu" was Najib's speech and as usual he gave out money for a temple in Shah Alam and Tamil schools in the vicinity. This is his trade mark "lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu" (you scratch my back, I scratch yours). It was a speech that we all expected, so no surprises!

Palanivel too praised Najib and Rosmah and said that the hope of Indians laid in his hands. He then shamelessly asked for their support. But the kicker was when Palanivel, the MIC president, took on the role of Agriculture Minister and asked Indians to plant food items in front and at the back of their homes to supplement themselves. I was expecting him to provide land for agriculture to the Indians, but he chose to make them beggar farmers instead!

Treat Malaysian Tamils with more respect

So MIC thought that if they put a show and entertain the people with Tamil film stars, people will be captivated and come back in droves to vote for them. This cheap mentality of treating Malaysian Indians like uneducated and unprincipled bimbos is disgusting. The people here are more intelligent, hardworking and trustworthy.

All you need to win their hearts is to show them that you care and treat them as equals and tell them that you are Malaysian First and Malay, Indian, Chinese, or any other race Second. Then you win them lock, stock and barrel. Just treat them like Malaysians. As Najib said, "ORE MALAYSIA"

Malaysia Chronicle