Crisis, endemic to MIC!

Subramaniam might rule out negotiations with the members of the Palanivel camp, but one thing is sure, peace will never return to MIC.

COMMENT

By P Ramasamy

It is oxymoron to say “no end in sight for MIC leadership crisis”.

Why? Simply because the party unlike other parties , has moved from one crisis to another, all related to leadership, power, position and money.

To say that there is no end to crisis in MIC again means that there is an expectation by some quarters that somehow or rather with the right mix of leadership, understanding and commitment to assist Indians; crisis will evaporate in the party.

Leadership crisis or not, it is an inescapable aspect of MIC politics. To wish away crisis, suggests that we are either naive or simply have not followed the vicissitudes of the party for the last 60 years or so.

The party, MIC, had its humble beginnings in the immediate aftermath of World War 2. It was a strong nationalistic party modeled after the Congress Party in India to represent Indians in Malaya.

When MIC joined the Alliance coalition in the 1950s, the party began to lose all its progressive qualities. With the ascension of V. T. Sambanthan, as the party leader, the MIC became much more a Tamil party rather than an Indian one. Not only that, the party began to ignore the economic woes of the community and sought to focus on language and cultural issues.

While Sambanthan made some definite contributions to the party with the formation of the NLFCS, the seeds of political decay in the party began when V. Manickavasgam succeeded him as the president. From then on, MIC under presidents Samy Vellu, Palanivel and presently Subramaniam, have done nothing to uplift the poor Indian community. Most of the time, valuable time and energy was spent on infighting within the MIC!

From the time of Samy Vellu until the present day, Indians have lost all hope of depending on the MIC or BN to take up their myriad issues. This is the reason why the majority of Indians supported the DAP and PKR in the last two elections.

The current MIC President, Subramaniam, was chosen by Samy Vellu to protect his family interests. Since he is beholden to the latter, he cannot be expected to address and solve the serious problems plaguing the community

Subramaniam might rule out negotiations with the members of the Palanivel camp, but one thing is sure, peace will never return to MIC.

Given the disconnect between the MIC leaders and grassroots Indians, there is nothing that the party can do to address the growing political, social and economic problems faced by the Indian community.

Sooner or later, sad to say, Indians just have to say farewell to the MIC and move on with other political forces to ensure that they have a stake in the future of the country.

As long as UMNO is the dominant political force, political parties like the MIC, Gerakan and MCA will neither have the courage nor independence to represent their respective communities.

Subramaniam has been ill-advised not to seek accommodation with groups aligned to Palanivel. This measure will further sow the seeds of discord in the party.

Francis Fukuyama might be right in saying that without politics there is no history in the development of political parties. However, in the case of the MIC, there is too much negative history!

P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.