One veteran South Indian politician remarked that all you need is two parties before the two fragments into four and the four into eight. What he remarked about Tamil Nadu politics is very true for the Indian community in Malaysia.

Although the MIC is the sole official representative of the Indian community, political fragmentation is slowly taking place. Outside the realm of officialdom and formal politics, the Indian community has more than one party.

Dissatisfaction and unhappiness with the autocratic style of the MIC leadership paved the way for the formation of Indian Progressive Front (IPF) in the late 1980s. Although the People's Progressive Party (PPP) was not a splinter from the MIC, it nonetheless benefitted from dissatisfaction with the MIC.

Presently, another new party calling itself Marumalarchi Malaysian Indian Congress Baru (MIC Baru) is about to be formed.