MAIKA HOLDINGS BERHAD BEGAN life as an investment company of the Malaysian Indian Congress, to harness Indian capital for the common good. Hundreds of thousands of working-class Indians borrowed money to the hilt to buy shares and soon, like investment companies run by UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and other political parties in the National Front (BN) went bankrupt or firmly on the road to it. The Maika Holdings Berhad mismanaged - and politically interfered by the MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu - from the start, saw the value of its RM1 shares reduced to about ten sen. It was re-organised, the original shareholders lost their money, many went into bankruptcy, and the new Maika Holdings Berhad went into areas it knew nothing about, and quickly ran into debt. When shareholders asked about how the company is doing, they were either shouted down or warned.

THE PRIME MINISTER, DATO' SERI Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had had enough, and told the two squabbling Indian leaders to shut up. It would not do for the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, and the Indian Progressive Front, Dato' M.G. Pandithan, to divide the Indian community with general election around the proverbial corner. Since It is an internal matter, Pak Lah would not intervene. (Actually it is, since it is two BN parties quarrelling, but let that pass.) This bickering must stop. And now. Both promptly did and claimed the high moral ground. "The MIC doesn't go to war with anybody except the Opposition during the elections," Dato' Seri Samy Vellu said. But he could not resist putting the oar in. Dato' Pandithan started this, the IPF continues with its insults and defamations, but MIC will emerge the stronger, can withstand "all this nonsense". The MIC president is used to having the last word. But the barbs hurt. Only MIC members, not Dato' Pandithan, could tell him to step down. He is wrong here. He would step down, but not because his members want him to.

WHEN THE GOING IS GOOD, shoot yourself in the foot. This is how most Malaysian political parties conduct their affairs. They would do anything to show how immature or stupid they are, given the slightest chance. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is more prone to this than any other. When it should conduct itself as a responsible party, it now shows it cannot. The Indian Progressive Front (IPF), which does not know any better, and proves it. The MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, kicked up a storm with a claim that the IPF president, Dato' M.G. Pandithan, falsely claimed the editorial adviser of a Tamil newspaper opposed to the MIC president, Mr K.P. Athimulam - better known as Athi Kumanan - was an IPF deputy president. It appears he is not: he told the press he is thinking about it. Be that as it may, Dato' Seri Samy alleges this is how he got his award.

But in Pak Lah's new cabinet, which he deferred because of double-duty press speculation, the MIC nominee is reportedly missing. Instead, the name of Dato' M. Kayveas appears. The MIC leaders are flabbergasted. It was the clearest proof yet of the MIC leader's standing, or the lack of it, in Pak Lah's inner circle. So a new spin makes the rounds. That was deliberate, an MIC leader told me when I checked this with him. Dato' Seri Samy Vellu nominated Dato' Kayveas for the cabinet post in a roundabout long-term plan to merge the Malaysian Indian Congress with the latter's People's Progressive Party (PPP). In the new set-up, Dato' Kayveas would be a senior vice president who would succeed him when he decides to call it quits when he is 96. The PPP sources I contacted however had no clue to what I was asking. But if there is any truth in this, it only shows how irrelevant the MIC has become in Malaysian politics.

THE MALAYSIAN Indian Congress PRESIDENT, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, at the start of his self-delusional three decades in office which he insists he deserves, is quick to snap at anyone who dares to suggest he overstays his welcome after 24 years in office. That the new National Front (BN) president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would rather have some one other than him in his cabinet is ignored. If he is MIC president, he is the MIC cabinet minister. As MIC president, he would not act if Indians are deliberately shunted aside to such a degree that they are the underclass of 21st century Malaysia. Nor if Indians are denied places they deserve at Malaysian universities. Nor if they are deliberately humiliated. Nor even if Indians, by the MIC's insistence that they be taught in Tamil, makes them unfit for the modern world. He says he would deal with them. If any dare suggest that he does not, or wrongly, and he goes into a fearful tantrum.

PAS could pull this off for its Islamic credentials are more secure than UMNO's. Nothing frightens a Malay party than dissent from within. While PAS is generally assumed to be a theocratic party, its constitution makes no mention of that. It promises a government on sound Islamic principles. It accepts that this is difficult in a multiracial and multireligious society, and in talks with its officials - religious and non-religious - accept that the norms of a religious administration as Saudi Arabia could not work here. UMNO on the other hand has accepted it is an Islamic party and challenges PAS on its turf. It has a tough task ahead. In the 1950s, the socialist leaders in the Indian Congress Party felt that its socialist agenda did not have the importance it should, and formed their own socialist party. It made no headway. They could not convince the people that their idea of a socialist paradise differed from the Congress's. The same danger holds for UMNO. Whereas in India decisions like these would be after lengthy debate and thought, here it is for tactical advantage. UMNO could find itself unable to return to its cultural constituency and may not have much of an impact in the Islamic heartland. It could find that its traditional supporters could have moved to a non-Islamic multiracial but Malay-led political party like the National Justice Party (KeADILan), or to PAS.

Thirty years ago, in the aftermath of the Malay coup d'etat which ensured the marginalisation of the non-Malay in government and business, a deliberate policy made it impossible for a non-Malay to join the police force. In that year, less than 20 non-Malay recruits joined the police force out of the thousands who applied. It was made clear that they would be kept out. The Malaysian Chinese Assocition and the Malaysian Indian Congress, smarting from the wounds of the 1969 general election and the loss of power in the Alliance, and later, the National Front (BN), decided to let UMNO has its way. Their leaders were more frightened, as now, of being denied their tokenist role in the administration than of the community they nominally led. In tandem with cutting down drastically new non-Malay police recruits, those selected as officers were bluntly told they are there on sufferance, that their role would be administrative with little or no chance of line duties unless he is led by a Malay officer. It became clear soon enough that he could not rise up the promotion leader. The tokenism of non-Malay officers at the top meant that they would be weeded out as chief inspectors or assistant superintendents of police. In the coming years, the non-Malay joined the police force as a last resort, when he could get no other job.

The Malaysian Indian Congress president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is sure his party will romp home because it is virtually indestructible under his great and glorious leadership. He is in office for 24 years and expects the party to be industructible as he confidently marches to three decades in office, when he would, like Dr Mahathir, reluctantly consider retirement. The Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, believes his 24 years as party president cannot do but good for his party in the general election. How can he then retire? These four parties are the mainstay of the National Front Dr Mahathir, and after October Dato' Seri Abdullah, leads.

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) system is strained. In fear. An important Indian group, the Indian Progressive Party (IPF), could not join the BN because the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) fears its potential strength. The recent Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) leadership crisis could not be resolved except in how it was. The president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, had to resign, but he could not be succeeded by any other than his designated successor. Again, in fear. When Dato' Leo Moggie is forced out as president of his Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), he should have resigned as cabinet minister. No, says the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Party leaders can be kicked out by the members, but it is the Prime Minister who decides who would be in his cabinet. He could not care less if who he selects has no role in the party he represents in his government. The BN Prime Minister changes the rules as he likes, for fear of what could happen if he followed them.

It is the new face of the young Malaysian Chinese, born and bred in Malaysia, with no thought to migration and no reason why he should be second class. A similar Indian group, though outside the BN's Indian party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), makes waves amongst the Indian political establishment. This belief that politics begins at the top of the greasy pole is challenged. If the MCA and the MIC thinks that this ground support for its cause is permanent no matter what their leaders do, they are in for a shock.

THE PRIME MINISTER, DATO' SERI MAHATHIR Mohamed is, he believes, a much misunderstood man. He wants to resign, but many in UMNO and Malaysia not only disbelieve him but some, God forbid, even want him to resign well before his October 31 retirement. And he does not know why. So, in his opening address at the Malaysian Indian Congress convention yesterday (10 May 2003), he tells the delegates, in injured innocence, "I do not know why. Some say that I should go now ... they do not believe that I will step down in October." But these fellows have never supported him any. "They are always ready to be suspicious of me and have never been supportive of me anyway." All this, he reiterated, is needless speculation. He stands by what he said in July last year: He leaves in October after the OIC summit. He would not lead the National Front (BN) into the general election, now widely expected early next year.

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