MIC: Don’t insult Indians by backing Umno-PAS pact

Generally, Indians in the country do not expect much from the MIC - but at least they expect the party to behave and not insult Indians.

There are so many things wrong with MIC. Basically, the party has been accused of betraying the trust of the community over the years. Thus, if the party leaders have nothing relevant to say, the community expects them to at least "shut" their mouths.

With the talk about an alliance between Umno and PAS, the MCA had some guts to say that it will oppose any move to bring PAS within the fold of BN.

However, Dr S Subramaniam, the MIC president, had a different thing to say. Rather than analysing the ramifications of such move, he went ahead and said that MIC would not oppose such a move and that Umno and PAS could cooperate during the time of elections.

Of all the past leaders of the MIC, Subramaniam came to head the party under controversial circumstances. There are allegations already surfacing that he undermined the leadership of the former president G Palanivel by conspiring with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

To date, Subramaniam has not refuted such allegations and the mystery about the conspiracy has gained momentum, so much so that supporters of Palanivel have lodged hundreds of police reports against the leadership of Subramaniam.

Done nothing to uplift community

Subramaniam was brought into MIC by the former president, S Samy Vellu, some years back. His entry into MIC was basically to ensure that the interests of Samy Velllu and family would be taken care of.

While he has remained loyal to Samy Vellu, he has done nothing to uplift the Indian community from its social, economic and educational doldrums. Either Subramaniam is overseas or spending his time to ensure that his political enemies do not take an upper hand in the present upheaval of the party.

If at all he survives in the MIC, it is mainly due to the lifeline extended by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. Subramaniam (photo) is beholden to Najib for his continued stay in the party.

Thus, when he spoke favourably about the possibility of an Umno-PAS alliance, it was his extreme and slavish loyalty to Najib. To date, he has never questioned about the funds that Najib has received in his accounts and he has failed to raise issues about 1MDB.

Indians, who have been marginalised for nearly 60 years in the country, are questioning the very purpose of the MIC. In fact, if a survey were done to test the relevance of the party, a vast majority would indicate that the MIC is irrelevant to Indians.

While it is easy to establish the irrelevance of the party to Indians, the question remains why Subramaniam continues to make statements that hurt the well-being and dignity of Indians.

Subramaniam does not realise that the alliance between Umno and PAS would spell disaster for non-Malay political parties in the BN fold. He should not be naïve enough to think that this alliance would not be a simple political alliance, but an alliance that would strengthen both Malay nationalism and Islamic radicalism.

Once these two elements are combined, it would be powerful antidote to the demands of non-Malays or non-Muslims and would invariably led to the further marginalisation of the Indian community.

The MCA, despite its faults has sensed what the alliance would be in store for non-Malays. This is the reason why it said that it would oppose any move on the part of Umno to bring PAS into the BN coalition.

But, unfortunately, MCA did not elaborate beyond this as the party lacks leaders who are courageous and who can stand up the various antics of Umno.

There is growing feeling in the country among Indians that the MIC should just "close shop", for it will never do anything useful for the community.

If the party could not deliver economic and social benefits to the community during its heyday, what guarantee is there for the party to do so, under the present political circumstances of ‘total” vulnerability?

Today, MIC is kept alive by the "blood infusion" from Umno.

I hope the party leaders realise this and refrain from making stupid and idiotic comments about the Umno-PAS alliance without understanding the full implications of this possible pact and what it means, not only to the non-Malay BN parties but also to the non-Malays in the country.

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P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the State Assemblyperson for Perai. -Mkini