MIC president G Palanivel, who had succeeded S Samy Velu as MIC president, has taken the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) to a new era of openness, made it more united and has transformed the party.

Among his notable achievements was succeeding in getting the RM100 million allocation for Tamil schools and the RM180 million allocation for the Indian entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

He also succeeded in uniting the MIC members of all factions including the supporters of Samy Velu and former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam and had given fresh hope to its members.

Despite the notable achievements in such a short period the next general election would be an acid test for his leadership and his credibility to lead the only Indian based party in BN.

The BN leadership may have succeeded in its strategy to recapture Hulu Selangor from the opposition in the previous by-election by naming Putera MIC head P Kamalanathan as its candidate, but indirectly also killed the future MIC leader's credibility.

Being a local candidate and a mature politician plus his new role as the MIC president would have been a catalyst to win back the seat he lost with a very slim margin of 198 votes.

MIC members and Malaysian Indians at large could digest this decision of not choosing Palanivel as the by-election candidate for Hulu Selangor due to BN's desperate situation to win back the seat from the opposition.

Being a pillar of BN by virtue of representing the Malaysian Indian community, MIC should be empowered with greater authority and say in BN. Thus it's vital and urgent for BN to set things right and repair the damage done.

MIC members and Malaysian Indians at large would like to see MIC emerge as a strong party and respected by the component parties in BN especially UMNO and stop playing bully by overriding MIC's decisions.

In the coming general election, the BN leadership should insist and allow Palanivel to contest in Hulu Selangor for Parliament to prove his credibility and worthiness to emerge as a leader with support and endorsement from people.

Palanivel should participate in the next BN government as the Hulu Selangor member of Parliament which will allow him to lead the MIC with pride and dignity and bring back the past glory of the party.

ANNADURAI MUTHUSAMY is a former minister appointee as a member of the Malaysian Youth Consultative Council 2009-2010.