With a whopping 528 nominations, Samy Vellu has retained his position as MIC president for the 10th consecutive term.

The 70-year-old politician, who is also works minister, retained his post unopposed after nominations closed at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

When the result was announced, some 1,500 of his supporters began to chant 'Long Live Samy Vellu' and mobbed the president with garlands.

(A minimum of 50 nominations are needed to contest the No 1 post)

According to Bernama, deputy president S Subramaniam was the first to garland the president.

Continue to serve

Samy Vellu joined MIC in 1959 and has been at the helm of the Indian-based party since 1981. In 1971, he became Youth chief and four years later vice-president. In 1975, he became deputy president after defeating Subramaniam.

He became a member of Parliament in 1978 and following the death V Manickavasagm in 1979, Samy Vellu became acting president.

Over the past 25 years, he has fended of several challenges, including from Subramaniam.

It is an open secret that the president and his deputy are not on good terms. In fact, Samy Vellu had recently endorsed vice-president G Palanivel to contest for the number two post in this June's party elections.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu told reporters after his victory that this would not be his last term. "I will continue to serve the Indian community as long as the grassroots want me," he said.

According to the New Straits Times , he stressed that his mission was for the Indian community to be on par with the other races.

"So fare the community has been successful, but we still have a long way to go. I want to finish this journey, and for me to do that the Indian community needs a quantum leap economically and socially," he added.