COMMENT As I have said in my earlier writings, the current leadership conflict in the MIC has nothing to do with Indians. It has all to do with who gains power, prestige and economic wealth.

While the group aligned with G Palanivel, president of the MIC, wants to ostensibly to ‘retrieve’ back the wealth in the form of land and buildings for the community, the group that is aligned with S Subramaniam, the deputy leader, wants to maintain the status quo.

S Samy Vellu, the former president, the person to some extent responsible for the current impasse in the party, supports the deputy president. Apparently, he and his family control substantial wealth that was acquired for the community.

While the battles are fought in the name of taking the Indian community to greater heights, the actual situation on the ground is different.

Both Palanivel and Subramaniam know very well that the MIC is not the sole representative of Indians as it was in the earlier decades. Much of Indian support has gone to the Pakatan coalition beginning with the general election in 2008.

It was Hindraf that was to a large extent responsible for the historic shift of Indian votes to Pakatan. What was unimaginable earlier became a reality after Hindraf launched its movement.

Indian representation is much diversified today that it was before. Once Indians had no political alternative, but today they have a choice, even though such a choice might not be perfect.

Umno, the  strongest party in the BN coalition, used to call the shots to be followed by the smaller parties. However, such a situation is no longer tenable.

Umno is riddled by corruption and abuse of power and it is at its lowest ebb politically. The kind of authority they had over other component parties has eroded.

This would explain why Palanivel exhibited rare courage to question Umno’s interference in MIC and what is more took the Registry of Society (ROS) to court.

This was unthinkable a few years ago.

When Samy Vellu ( photo ) was the president, he admonished and intimidated Indians in the party, but when it came to Umno, he was a mouse. He lacked the courage, honesty and integrity to bring some form of dignity and meaning to Indians.

Umno leaders, like Najib Abdul Razak in particular, do not have the luxury to sort the problems faced by the MIC. He himself is in big trouble and there is no certainty he would be able to ride the present crisis that is gripping the country.

Even if he sacks Palanivel, on the grounds of the ROS ruling, he would have destroyed whatever that remains of the MIC.

Driving the last nail in the coffin of MIC

Najib would go down in history as the Umno leader who drove the last nail in the coffin of the MIC. He would have destroyed the party was formed ambitiously to champion the rights of Indians in the immediate aftermath of World War 2.

Subrmaniam, who wants to head the MIC, is a poor choice for Indians. He lacks the charisma, honesty and decency to take up the innumerable problems faced by Indians. He is just a lame-duck person deriving his final authority from the man who put him in the MIC in the first place - Samy Vellu.

With or without leadership problems, Indians are terribly down in the country. Their leaders have betrayed them beyond imagination. Yet these leaders are asking for a mandate so that he could continue to hoodwink and bamboozle the community in the coming years.

Indians, whether members or not, should say enough is enough. They must be brave enough to say that we don’t want the MIC and its leaders.

Compared to other ethnic communities, Indians are in an unenviable position.

MIC is not a hope for Indians, but it has become a huge burden.

Unable to extricate from the party for sentimental and cultural reasons, many Indians are caught in situation where they can’t move forward.

Sad to say, the MIC is not a hope but a colossal tragedy for Indians - an ethnic group that has contributed so much and got so little in the development of this country.

The sooner the MIC is removed from the scene, the better it will be for Indians.

The collapse of the MIC will not signal the end of political representation for Indians, but rather it will usher in for them new and fresh forms of political representation.

Unlike in the ‘The Rime of Ancient Mariner’, Indians do not have a ‘friendly’ but ‘unfriendly’ albatross in the form of MIC around their neck.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the assemblyperson for Perai.