The most hotly contested Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) elections saw the return of the president’s men at the helm of the party. Despite the growing demands for change from Indian Malaysians, including MIC members on the ground, the 1,400 over delegates saw it fit to return the same old team for another four years.

They seemed to be oblivious to the sentiments of the people they represent. The MIC president himself, Samy Vellu, was returned unopposed in a rather controversial manner that typifies his style of authoritarian leadership of the party for three decades. It does not augur well for the party that practices democracy.

The Indian voters in the general elections last year had for the first time in the history shifted their support from the MIC and Barisan Nasional to the opposition parties. Even the once considered to be Islamic extremists PAS were more appealing to them than Umno, MIC and BN. Why this sudden change of loyalty?

Umno blames Samy Vellu for the losses of MIC and the BN and wants him to step down as its president. Its former president, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has called him a ‘liability’ to BN, something Samy strongly denies and in turn blames Umno for failing to honor its commitment to the Indians.

For once we tend to agree with Samy; he may be a cause of the rot in MIC but is not the sole cause of BN’s defeat.

It was an overbearing and arrogantly dominant Umno that has caused the drastic erosion of support for not only the MIC but the MCA, Gerakan and other non-Malay parties. It was the Umno-dictated lopsided BN policies that led to its debacle in the 2008 elections. Unless Umno accepts its shortcomings and take steps to correct itself (this appears remote), its non-Malay partners in the BN are going to perish in the next general elections.

Will Samy’s exit resolve the woes of the Indian Malaysians, the MIC and BN? His dictatorial style of leadership has eliminated all talented Indians who were either expelled, left in cold storage till this day or denied entry into MIC.

Absence of a credible opposition within the MIC has led to abuse of power and corruption in the party as a result of which the poor Indians got poorer and the rich richer.

The Indian population may be small but its share of problems is abundant and complex. Since independence, the economic share of the Indians has dwindled progressively due to their losses in the plantation and public sectors where they were predominantly employed.

Today poverty, unemployment, delinquency and crime rate among Indians are the highest in the country. Apart from these, other social ills such as alcoholism, illiteracy, broken homes, illegitimate children and stateless youths are also highly prevalent among them.

Their deplorable state has resulted in them being looked down by the other races who consider them as ‘a liability’ to national development. Even many of the successful Indians are beginning to get frustrated with the helpless mentality of their own people who have earned a third-class citizen status in the country.

It is time for all Malaysians, including Indians, to support a system that will do away with race politics and opt for a one based purely on multiracialism and merit. If we continue with the politics of the past, where each community is represented by its own communal party, where the races compete with each other, the minorities will inevitably be marginalised.

A multi-racial political system that has colour-blind policies drawn up to eradicate poverty and socio-economic deprivation will be the only way all races will obtain maximum benefits. Only under such a system will all citizens be able to unite and prosper as one Malaysian race. That is the ideal situation that we must have and for which we all must strive for.