I am saddened to note that S Samy Vellu has once again been elected again to lead the only party that represents the Indian Malaysian community in the present ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.

While the nation as a whole is busy wondering about what will happen in life due to the recent petrol price hike, Samy quietly sneaked into his 10th term as president of the MIC.

As expected, he pledged that he will bring the Indian community to a greater heights in all aspects economy, social and politics.

Political analysts will agree with my argument that Samy has overstayed and denied many other potential leaders a chance to lead the party. His past 27 years as president have very little to show in achievements in any of the fields mentioned above. One wonders how much this 70-year-old man can do for the community in the next three years.

Politically, the MIC is no longer the only party for Indians to be represented by or to be actively involved in. The PPP and Gerakan have Indian representative in government. The IPF is well recognised by all the BN coalition parties (except the MIC for obvious reasons).

The impending MIC Baru will further split the might of MIC. The MIC delegates and party CWC members must realise that their days are numbered for come the next general election the MIC may not command the same respect and status as in the past.

The community's achievement in the economic field is purely due to its own self-effort. The rural-urban migration caused many social problems and the community was left stranded and had to survive on their own. This brought about social ills and hardship to the people.

The community's three percent share of the economic pie is still far away. The 1.5% achieved thus far is mainly to one or two individual's wealth. More has to be done to uplift the people's economic health. The BN government did its part by allocating shares and equity to the MIC's investment arm - Maika Holdings - but it is known to everyone that it was a miserably managed and people were shortchanged in many cases .

The party under Samy's leadership is suffering from social discrimination based on the ancient caste system. The same applies to the IPF. It's very disturbing that something the younger generation would want to forget is growing stronger in the political parties.

Having said all this, one wonders about the fate and future of Indian political parties in Malaysia, especially the MIC's.

Individuals and groups should put their self-interests aside and work for their common good and rights. Remember, when you are divided, you are weak and can vanish any time.

Whoever the successor to Samy Vellu is, I pity the person if he has to work 25 hours a day to unite the Indian community and work for its progress.