Perfect platform for Palani to exert control

The Indian-based party is entering a crucial phase with the general election looming and its chief coming under fire over his style of leadership.

PETALING JAYA: The 66th MIC annual general assembly (AGM) would provide a perfect platform for party president G Palanivel to impress party leaders and members alike that he is indeed in control of the largest Indian-based political party in the country.

The assembly comes at a crucial moment, taking into account the looming general election, and the media-shy Palanivel, who was elevated to the party top post in 2010, needs to show that he has an iron grip on the party, which boasts 630,000 members.

Over the last two years, Palanivel has been going through a torrid time receiving a barrage of criticisms on the way he is running the party.

The squabbles among grassroots leaders in their chase for seats to contest at the next general election, expected in the next four months, is a major issue which the MIC chief needs to address, among others.

At the last election, MIC suffered a damning defeat winning only three of the nine parliamentary seats it contested under the Barisan Nasional logo. The party contested 19 state seats at the 2008 polls but only managed to win seven.

Even Palanivel was wiped out at the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency along side the then MIC supremo S Samy Vellu who lost his long-held parliamentary seat in Sungai Siput.

As a result of the bad performance of the party in 2008, Samy Vellu eventually relinquished his party post and Palanivel took over the hot seat.

Since then, the party had gone silent and some wonder if the party was still functioning as before.

“MIC has lost its vibrancy. It is not as vocal as before. Maybe this is Palanivel’s style of leadership. But the question is, will Palanivel’s style of leadership do any good for the MIC and Barisan Nasional? Is it effective? Is the party really bringing in Indian votes for the BN?” said a MIC veteran leader when contacted by FMT.

Political pundits have pointed out that although Indian voters had turned their backs on the BN at the last election, they are slowly but surely returning to the ruling coalition fold.

They attribute this to the special funding and allocations by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who has been taking the trouble to “patch up” with Indian voters.

Palanivel, on the other hand, is facing a political dilemma.

Samy Vellu, who retired from active politics, is back in the fray. Although the former Works Minister is very unlikely to contest in Sungai Siput again or fight for the party top post, he was endorsed as the BN coordinator for Sungai Siput a month ago by Najib.

This would be a bitter pill for Palanivel to swallow.

Squable for seats

“Why appoint Samy Vellu even if he has served as MP in Sungai Siput for a long time? Does this mean that the prime minister has lost confidence in Palanivel to regain the seat? The seat is traditionally contested by the MIC president, so why isn’t Palanivel taking over the seat instead of asking other leaders to contest in Sungai Siput,” said an observer who declined to be named.

Although it was Samy Vellu who hand-picked Palanivel to be his deputy back then, there seems to be simmering discontent between the two leaders of late.

“Samy Vellu feels Palanivel is not doing enough. He wants the party to be alert at all times. He wants to see some action in the party. He wants a more vibrant MIC to suit the current active political climate.

“Palanivel, on the other hand, is uncomfortable with Samy Vellu’s meddling in MIC affairs. Samy Vellu still has a lot of supporters in the party who call him up to complain about the present leadership. He listens to all of them. He advises them from time to time. But this has irked Palanivel,” said a MIC leader who did not want to be named.

Another matter Palanivel needs to address is the squabbling among party leaders over seats in the coming general election.

Palanivel himself is without a seat. Speculation is that he would contest in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency pushing incumbent SK Devamany to fight in Sungai Siput.

“Why this seat swap, if the speculation is true? Is Palanivel taking an easy way out… we all know it is easier to win in Cameron Highlands compared to Sungai Siput. This will not go down well among the grassroots members. They are used to Samy Vellu’s firebrand style of leadership. It is very difficult for them to accept Palanivel’s ‘smooth operator’ style of leadership without much noise and fanfare.

“He can use the AGM to explain things. What are his plans for the party in the future? It would also be interesting to see how he would rally his troops for the general election,” said the observer.

The MIC AGM, this weekend, comes just two weeks after the Umno general assembly which saw Najib upping the ante, whipping up the sentiments of party lower rung leaders and firing up the party into election mode.

While Najib is expected to do the same at the MIC AGM, it is still unclear how Palanivel intends to steer the assembly.

“I feel Najib would announce ‘something’ for the 1.8 million Indian community in Malaysia. He will also seek to boost Indian support for the BN. He is also expected to endorse Palanivel’s leadership to strengthen party confidence in the president. He wants things to be smooth until the general election,” said a highly placed source.

Party polls

While Najib, who is also BN chief, wants things to be cordial until the general election, all hell is expected to break loose after that in the party.

This is because of the party polls, which is expected to be in June next year.

“This would be the last AGM for Palanivel to exert some form of control before he goes into the party election. He needs to impress members and party delegates,” said the MIC leader.

Palanivel has yet to contest the party presidency and win. His win at the deputy president’s race at the last party election in 2009 was aided and assisted by Samy Vellu, who held an iron grip on the party then.

MIC has a unique system where the president is elected some three months before the election for other top national posts.The president is picked by office-bearers from the 4,300 MIC branches nationwide, while 1,400 divisional delegates pick the other national leaders.

“So effectively if a leader fights Palanivel for the presidency and losses, he or she can contest other party positions three months later. So the challenger has nothing to lose. This system could see more candidates trying their luck at the presidential election.

“The candidate wanting to contest the presidency needs to garner 50 nominations. Each nomination form must be signed by six branch leaders. Although this was hard to get during Samy Vellu’s era, I do not think it would be so difficult now, due to the perception that the leadership is weak,” said the MIC leader.

While Palanivel struggles to set things straight and prove that he is indeed in control of the party, the AGM this time around would definitely be a baptism of fire for the MIC chief which could be turned to his advantage with political prowess and finesse.