MIC lodged between the devil and the deep blue sea

 

Last week’s MIC annual assembly made many of us a tad confused with the party’s political positioning ahead of the next general election (GE15). The party is obviously having one foot in Perikatan Nasional with the other in Barisan Nasional.

The party, which claims to be the exclusive representative of Indians in the country, declared it would stick with PN for now, and await new developments in its own BN coalition before deciding on its final destination. When it says BN, it definitely means Umno.

How things have changed. MIC leaders are now openly and frequently critical of Umno leaders, especially Umno’s president, leading many to believe MIC may ditch BN and hop on the PN bandwagon.

MIC’s stand could be viewed as a snub of sorts, probably even an act of thumbing its nose at its master of more than six decades. Some consider it as an ungrateful act of defiance, especially to a party which had ensured MIC’s political survival for so long.

At the assembly, MIC president S Vigneswaran did not hide his disdain for Umno, nor his party’s reasons for being increasingly pro-PN. He pointed out that Muhyiddin Yassin gave the party a Cabinet post despite its “master” – Umno – not nominating any MIC leaders for the posts of ministers, deputy ministers or senators.

Vigneswaran’s comments come after Umno told MIC that it will only get 35% of the usual nine Malay-majority seats which are traditionally contested by the party. Even worse, some Umno leaders have suggested taking away the prestigious Sungai Siput parliamentary seat from MIC.

As things stand, MIC-Umno ties are very fragile, at a time when Muhyiddin is holding the door wide open for it to join PN. The question now is will the Indian-based party take the bait and go with PN, or choose to stick with Umno?

Either way, the support from the community for the party is at its lowest ebb, possibly to a point of no return. Muhyiddin thanked MIC for its current support but one must not forget this is just for now, to enable PN to still have the official majority. Whether PN will give MIC the seats they want to contest is another matter.

Realistically, with such a crowded field amid rising calls for religious and racial supremacy among the Malay parties in PN, there is no way MIC will be given “safe” seats as was the case with BN.

Having said this, the question being asked now is how will this decision affect the average Malaysian Indian, many who have long deserted the party which they feel exists just for seats and positions in the government?

Today’s middle-class Indians feel they don’t owe an iota of gratitude to MIC for their successes.

Many say that a large number of them had lost out in scholarships, government jobs and business opportunities during the last several decades, especially at a time when they needed them the most.

This happened when most of the major benefits that were channelled via MIC had gone to cronies, relatives and people in power. The general feeling was that whether it had one minister or a dozen, it would not have made a difference to most Indians.

Unfortunately for MIC, this number of disgruntled voters has been growing. To convert them from their current anti-establishment stance may be difficult, made worse by PAS’ posturing on Islamism and Malay supremacy.

Umno has already told the party it has to sacrifice its “regular seats,” which means Umno is desperate and it needs all the BN-controlled Malay-majority seats to enable it to be the leading partner in any coalition.

A peeved Vigneswaran chose the assembly to tell Umno off, saying if it wants MIC to give up so many seats, why can’t it give up at least 10% of the seats it contested to others in the BN coalition.

But the political reality on the ground is that the seats contested by MIC have a fairly large number of Malays and Indians, sometimes jointly numbering 70% to 80% of the electorate there. So for MIC to win, it has to win at least 80% of the Indian votes and about 50% of the Malay votes.

This is where it failed miserably in the last two elections. It is not going to be any easier in the next general election (GE15). Many of these voters in the urban and semi-urban seats had favoured a candidate from multiracial parties from the opposition.

Obviously Umno, which could be facing a do or die battle in GE15, can see the writing on the wall and has asked MIC to face the reality. But Vigneswaran viewed this as Umno having used MIC for the last 65 years and dumping it when the going gets tough.

He said Umno had treated MIC badly in the past and the party wanted some respect, and not to be talked down to. As such, he added, they are not obliged to follow all of Umno’s biddings without question.

By allowing Muhyiddin to give a keynote address and declaring that it will not follow Umno’s decision to not work with PPBM in GE15, MIC has taken a bold gamble in its attempt to try and stay relevant.

If you ask me, MIC is torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. Whichever path it decides to take, it will be an uphill struggle.

MIC should understand that DAP and PKR combined have 13 Indian MPs and 15 assemblymen, compared to MIC’s one MP and three state representatives elected in 2018. This clearly shows that the voters, especially Indians, have rejected the party and BN, and Umno is fully aware of MIC’s current strength.

With Umno showing signs of at least three factions fighting to wrest control of the party, the chances are that the party will be weak if it goes alone in GE15. If MIC were to go down while standing by its 65-year-old faithful partner, it will be seen as an honourable act by many.

But if it decides to piggyback on PN to survive, but loses all else, it will drown itself in the deep blue sea. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.