According to reports, MIC has made its decision to leave Umno and the unity government, likely to join the opposition coalition, PN.
MIC president Vigneswaran has met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to state the party’s desire, and by the sound of it, it doesn’t look like Anwar is that eager to prevent MIC from leaving. All that Anwar said is that MIC should think carefully before deciding.
"Anwar is an open and straightforward person.
"He asked, and I explained what actually happened.
"It wasn't that we were negotiating for seats; we simply expressed our intention to leave BN.
"So he asked MIC to think it through carefully," Vigneswaran said at a press conference following MIC's 79th Annual General Assembly at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) today.
If you ask me, it sounds to me that the way Anwar is talking to MIC is like he is happy that MIC is leaving. As for his advice that MIC should think twice, it sounds like the sort of advice that a person will give their spouse that they themselves are trying to divorce, when their spouse expresses their wish for a divorce.
It is advice you give merely to grant yourself an alibi – so that you are later not blamed for the divorce, although it is likely you that wanted the divorce in the first place.
There is a lot of reason why Umno and PH might indeed want parties like MIC and MCA to leave its fold.
For one, MIC and MCA are a burden to Umno and PH – MIC and MCA themselves cannot win on their own but they wish to share the spoils that Umno and PH wins. MIC and MCA are also making it difficult for Umno and PH to collaborate in a deeper and more meaningful manner.
A big part of the reason why Malaysian politics is so turbulent at present is because non-Malay-led DAP is the biggest party in the ruling coalition. This creates a perception that the non-Malay minority are the ones that is ruling over the Malay Muslim majority.
This problem in perception, can likely be resolved if PKR, Umno and DAP enter into a more formal coalition, which I am tentatively calling the Harapan Nasional, which will then result in the Malay-oriented PKR and Umno again having more seats than the non-Malay-oriented DAP.
Another reason why Umno and PH might want a party like MIC to leave it is because they expect to profit from it. As long as MIC is an ally of Umno in BN, it is hard for Umno to take a more Malay nationalist stance, in order to compete better with Bersatu or PAS. It is hard because Umno will be forced to take a moderate stance to accommodate MIC and MCA. Once MIC and perhaps MCA leave BN, then Umno will be able to transform itself into a party that will be better able to compete with Bersatu and PAS.
As for PH, PH parties like DAP and PKR also want to own more shares of the Indian electorate. If MIC leaves the unity government, DAP and PKR can look forward to a bigger segment of Indians joining DAP and PKR, rather than follow MIC to PN.
Also, PH and BN are likely looking forward to the entry of MIC into PN to burden PN, in the same way their presence in the unity government is burdening the unity government. The reason PN is able to gain a big share of the Malay-Muslim vote is because it doesn’t have to soften its stance to accommodate the Indian and Chinese electorate. MIPP and Gerakan, the two non-Malay parties in PN, are too small and insignificant to moderate the stance of Bersatu and PAS. If bigger non-Malay parties like MIC or MCA join PN, then PN will likely also have to moderate its Malay-Muslim stance, and its moderation might dim its appeal amongst the Malay-Muslim electorate.
As for MIC itself, will its foray into opposition politics succeed in changing its flagging political fortune for the better? I am quite sure it won’t. Why? Because MIC has lost the support of the Indians and it is nowhere close to regaining it. Not only MIC, there is no Indian political party or leader in the country that will be able to regain the support of the Indians. Vigneswaran acknowledged the limits of MIC’s influence.
At best, what the Indian parties and leaders can expect to do in the current political climate is act as spoilers, by agitating against a major political party in the country — which a competing major political party can use to their advantage — but on their own, no Indian political party or leader can regain Indian support.
MIC’s move from BN to PN will be a move from definite defeat to certain failure. At least in BN and the unity government, it was not used by such parties as Umno or PKR or DAP to agitate against PN parties like Bersatu and PAS, but in PN, it will likely be used by Bersatu and PAS to agitate against BN and PH parties.
When MIC finds itself fighting against more moderate and multiracial parties like PKR, DAP and BN, for the interests of Malay-nationalist parties like PAS and Bersatu, it is hard to see how it will not completely turn off what little Indian support it still has. MIC’s problem is not where it is at, but who it is. Its problem is that its ideology, leadership, and reason for existence are no longer seen as being tied to the interest and prospect of the Indian community.
Because of that, regardless of where it is — whether with BN or PN — it will still not gain anything, but will likely experience only what you would experience if you were to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.
Note :
According to, Sinar Harian, MIC had purportedly decided to defer the decision on whether the party would leave or remain in BN.
However, MIC president Vigneswaran has a different account, saying that the motion to leave BN, had been received, approved, and submitted to the Central Working Committee (CWC) leadership.
He clarified that delegates from each state have the right to propose such motions, but the decisions must first be reviewed by the CWC.
Whatever the final outcome is, we will likely be able to confirm it in the next few days.
Lets see how the cookies crumble.
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