SEVERAL days ago (Feb 7), MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran and his deputy Datuk Seri M. Saravanan paid a courtesy visit to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Prime Minister’s Office. There was almost an atmosphere of celebration with the courtesy call providing the opportunity for both parties to share views on issues of mutual interest.
Anwar never met any MIC top leaders since 1998 after being fired in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis following a fall-out with then prime minister (PM) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
A strategic partner of UMNO, MIC which is Malaysia’s largest Indian party is now looking forward to working closely with Anwar by throwing its support behind the PM despite not having any Cabinet presence.
The big question now is paying special attention to the reality on the ground; will Anwar give recognition to MIC after the party’s top leaders met him? As we know, the Indian community is well aware that it is not well-represented in multi-racial parties.
The MIC which is nearing 600,000 members sees the meeting between their two top leaders with Anwar as the best chance for a political change in the country.
Generally, Indians are disappointed with the lack of representation from the ethnic Indian community in the unity government. The lack of Indian representation in the new Government remains a talking point, and the community must be empowered further.
Walk the talk
Otherwise, Anwar’s past speeches are just rhetoric to attract the people’s sympathy for him. On top of that, Anwar and his government have an uphill battle to deal with the country’s serious ethno-religious polarisation.
During the meeting which lasted about an hour, both Vigneswaran and Saravanan took the opportunity to congratulate Anwar on his appointment as PM and discussed various matters relating to the Indian community.
Issues concerning the Indian community and how to attract foreign investors especially from India which has a huge potential to boost the Malaysian economy were among other matters discussed with PM, according to MIC president Vigneswaran in his Facebook post.
Taking to Facebook, MIC’s deputy president Saravanan expressed his happiness having a fruitful meeting with the PM. After all, the PM agreed to look into the welfare and well-being of the Indian community as well promised to assist and uplift the socio-economy of the community.
At the current juncture, MIC has been consistent in defending the rights of all races in accordance with the Federal constitution while continuing to move forward as a party that fight for moderation. Helping the people is MIC’s priority and this has been instilled at all levels.
MIC has continued to uphold its main objective to safeguard and promote the political, economic, educational, cultural and social interests of the Indians. In the past, MIC was blamed when something went wrong. The people were wondering where was MIC and the party eventually became a convenient punching bag for BN’s earlier economic policies.
Under current circumstances, Anwar’s unity government needs the full support from the masses including the MIC members and the Indian community in general to give the ruling government a strong mandate to ensure that all planned programmes planned can be executed effectively.
Indians may represent 6.6% of Malaysia’s 32.7 million citizens but they are often regarded as “kingmakers” during a general election. – Feb 10, 2023
Now an analyst, M. Vivekananthan has served the government of Malaysia at various ministries, agencies for almost 30 years. He was previously a private secretary to minister and deputy ministers.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
