MIC president S Samy Vellu today confirmed that he will contest to retain his presidency for the 10th term in next year's party election.

"Yes, I will be contesting next year. Let them contest, everybody can contest," he said at a press conference after the opening ceremony of the MIC's 59th annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Anyone can stand for election, said the party chief, as long as no money politics is involved.

Samy Vellu, who is also Works Minister, said the top two posts were open to challenge, adding that the party leadership will not hinder the democratic process.

Polling for the top post is scheduled for March with the rest in May.

The No 2 position is expected to be closely-contested with vice-president G Palanivel mounting a challenge against incumbent S Subramaniam.

The deputy president was thrown into cold storage after Samy dropped him from the party line-up for 2004 general election. Subramaniam has since maintained an equally low profile.

Acknowledging that leaders have already begun campaigning, Samy Vellu, who has been party president since 1981, said party hopefuls were free to canvass support as long as there are no money politics involved.

"Go ahead and campaign. We cannot stop anyone from lobbying but no money politics. This is what we're monitoring now.

"We haven't detected any money politics so far," he added.

Revolving fund

Earlier in his presidential speech, he said the government will give serious consideration to the MIC's input for the 9th Malaysia Plan.

One major proposal is to set up a RM500 million revolving fund under state-owned Permodalan Nasional Berhad to ensure a bigger share for the Malaysian Indian community in the national economic pie.

"We have identified shortcomings in the 8th Malaysia Plan and have presented a set of recommendation which would provide more opportunities in the next five years," Samy Vellu told reporters.

To achieve this, he wanted the government to implement an "effective monitoring mechanism" to ensure that services reach the target group.

He said the MIC was also planning another intellectual discussion with those who had participated in providing input for the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Under the Third Outline Perspective Plan over the last five years, the government was supposed to ensure that the 1.5 percent Malaysian Indian equity is increased to three percent by 2010 but the fear is that this will not be realised.

A total of 3,500 people, including 1,500 delegates, observers, diplomats and the media, were at the Putra World Trade Center on the first day of two days.

Barisan Nasional (BN) component party leaders were also present for the opening ceremony by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also BN chairperson.

'Give special focus'

Using English, Bahasa Malaysia and Tamil intermittently in his speech, Samy Vellu noted the changes that has been initiated by Abdullah and urged the community to seize all available opportunities to improve their lot.

He urged politicians to operate with a positive framework and mindset because "a pessimistic orientation sends negative energy which cripples dynamism and social change".

"Leaders must be consistently open for changes, recognising the forces that impact upon us on a daily basis whether locally or internationally."

Samy Vellu, presently the longest-serving Cabinet leader, asked Abdullah to "give special focus" to the bottom 30-40 percent of Malaysians.

"It is this section of Malaysian society who feel alienated from mainstream development and who have a rough time educating their children and making ends meet."

The party's vision is to have one graduate in each Malaysian Indian family.

He said the MIC's educational institutions has trained 33,000 para-professionals and 8,000 graduates at a cost of RM60 million.

"All these graduates have been able to secure jobs locally with a starting salary of about RM1,500," he said, adding that another 700 sponsored students were pursuing medicine in Ukraine, India and Indonesia.

Placing great emphasis on technology, Samy Vellu said it was the key to improving the community's stake in the national economic interest.

"Technological strength is the key to providing more employment opportunities especially in an increasingly competitive market place."

The opening ceremony was viewed live by three million people over RTM 1.