COMMENT There’s no honeymoon period for acting Malaysian Indian Congress president G Palanivel. For the second time in as many days, he continues to foam frantically at the mouth, conjuring up more hype than usual - and this time with an added note of urgency.

He wants his hitherto selfish minions to get closer to the people , find out what they really want, as if they didn’t already know, and get back to him pronto. Déjà vu! Is he for real?

If Palanivel really doesn’t know after 50-odd years, he should read Hindraf Makkal Sakthi’s 18-point demand which was recently delivered, belatedly, to the doorsteps of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. It’s all in there. The battle lines have been drawn for the Indian community vs Umno.

No Chinese leader in this country would dare do a number on the community with a hydra-like NGO such as Hindraf hovering in the background, if not being omnipresent.

Yet MIC leaders continue in the same old mould of looking down on the community as a bunch of morons who can be led by the nose once again for another half-century.

It’s unlikely that the Indian community will now tolerate from the MIC what the Chinese wouldn’t from their leaders for even a minute.

Clearly, Palanivel has yet to show any substance over form. He wanted to be MIC president and now that he has the job he had coveted for so long, he doesn’t have the faintest idea what to do with it. The only plus point he has is that he didn’t scheme, plot and connive against former party president S Samy Vellu to get the job.

Public opinion saw Samy out despite winning the party presidency “unopposed”. Palanivel was home free as Samy finally fled with his tail between his legs.

Let’s give the devil his due. This will show us how far the laid-back mild-mannered Palanivel can succeed in claiming to lead the Indian community.

Dream degenerates into nightmare

Of all the MIC presidents so far, no one can claim for better or worse to having been “greater” than ex-office boy Samy. He was honest with himself and others, was highly energetic and extremely hardworking.

 He also had a vision of sorts, to begin with, even though this soon degenerated self-servingly into a parallel Indian government dominated by nincompoops close to him.

As the dream degenerated into a nightmare, Samy came across as an obnoxious, overbearing creep. The community could hardly wait to put the proverbial one in his head but chose to boot him out in Sungei Siput at the last general election.

mic agm 110710 s samy vellu 1 If the “great” Samy Vellu can succumb to earthly temptations, been found wanting, and fail, what hope is there for a political pygmy like Palanivel or the other faceless and nameless, no doubt spineless, presidential hopefuls in MIC?

Samy began his presidency well but fell by the wayside, dutifully delivering Indian community votes gangster-style en bloc to Umno, in return for some crumbs and scraps for himself and the small crowd of sycophants around him.

That the Indian community put up with the virtually thuggish tactics of Samy for so long has never ceased to amaze most Malaysians. If there’s any definition of insanity, this is it... insanity being defined as doing the same things over and over again - voting MIC in - and expecting a different result for themselves.

It took Hindraf Makkal Sakthi to jolt the zombie Indians out of their sleep-walking. The result was the political tsunami of 2008.

Patently, the change was also the result of both DAP and PAS coming together in the unthinkable and de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chief Anwar Ibrahim stitching together a one-on-one pact to take on the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

However, it was the mood-creating effect of Hindraf’s makkal sakthi - people power - wave that finally clinched for the opposition alliance what it was unable to do in 2004.

It appears, from all the random polls conducted so far, that the Indian community is in a forgiving mood now to give the BN one last chance before consigning it to the dustbin of history.

Perhaps, they are gluttons for punishment! That doesn’t mean that the community wants to return wholesale to the MIC. Hindraf’s 18-point demand hangs like a sword of Damocles over MIC.

Besides, the hardcore Umno vote bank has yet to forgive MIC for the emergence of Hindraf in late 2007.

Keeping all this in mind, what’s Palanivel going to do that will be different from Samy. Wasn’t it Mahathir Mohamad who recently pleaded guilty to corruption and confessed “no money, no talk” when it comes to politics in Malaysia?

Isn’t Palanivel, like Samy, therefore hoping to deliver the community votes en bloc to Umno in return for a share of the spoils of office, if not the loot?  

The ideological underpinnings are yet to be seen.

Reduce the party membership

If Palanivel wants to be taken seriously by the community, he should first of all reduce the party membership to 50,000 and declare that it will henceforth be based on a system of having a small membership and many supporters.

Having a large membership is at the root of all evil in MIC... money politics and chasing after grass-cutting contracts and the like from the government and ignoring the needs of the community.

Next, the MIC must adopt Hindraf’s 18-point demand as the basis of its own political struggle within the BN. No doubt this approach will initially create frictions with Umno but at the end of the day, the Indians will see that the party is serious about their welfare.

Again, if Umno is genuine, it will discuss the 18 points and not hope that the Indians can be bribed again and again into parting with their votes as in Hulu Selangor and Bagan Pinang.

As for Samy, Palanivel should dismantle the pretence of a parallel government still being run by him (Samy) and surrender them to a federal government-run foundation. The Indian community no longer has any faith or trust in Samy or the MIC to run these institutions.

Palanivel should also boldly tell Samy that he should no longer be in the picture and that the Indian community would be much better off if he chooses voluntarily to go into political exile, perhaps in Tamil Nadu, Australia or any other place where he has interests.

If he wants to throw his money into politics, he’s better off backing some “horses” in the opposition alliance on an individual basis.

Palanivel should also tell Samy to surrender the post of roving High Commissioner to the Indian sub-continent since the community is unlikely to benefit from this appointment.

 

 

 

JOE FERNANDEZ is a freelance writer based in Sabah.

MIC seeks changes to novel 'Interlok'