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Another ancien regime Malaysian leader bites the dust

THERE IS NOW NO DOUBT that the MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, must go. He buys time. His bluster is checked. His time is past and surrounded by self-serving aides and politicians who would lose all if he were ousted, he is led to believe that he, and only he, could lead the Indian community, that he is the great white hope of the Indian community, and UMNO and BN - and the new Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had better accept it. It did not take long for hubris to prove him wrong. He accused the Indian Progressive Front leader, Dato' M.G. Pandithan, of nominating a Tamil newspaper editor for a royal award. In the war of words that followed, he had to lick his wounds. It turns out that he fell foul of the Official Secrets Act. A police report is lodged. It hangs over him as a Sword of Damacles.

His nemesis widened the attack: mismanagement of and in Maika Holdings, the MIC-initiated and now Samy Vellu-owned and -controlled investment company. He called a meeting yesterday at the Mint Hotel on Kuala Lumpur's outskirts to discuss it. Several thousand disgruntled shareholders turned up. Meanwhile, a creditor has moved the courts to wind up Maika Holdings as it negotiates with a listed company for a backdoor listing on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. American Express sues it and its chief executive - the son of the beleaguered MIC leader - for not paying RM142,000 in credit card bills. How did the land beside the MIC building in Jalan Ipoh turn up in a company controlled by Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu? And the new MIC headquarters that was to have come up there? This is but a taste of scandals to come.

It does not take much for a loved leader to the most hated. In 1989, President Nicolae Ceausescue addressed the large crowd in front of his official residence in Bucharest. When it was over, some one in the crowd booed. He demanded to know who had. Others in the crowd booed. In three days, he was swept out of office, shot and buried in an unmarked grave. President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia is forced out of office over the weekend for a believing he could do as he liked. President Robert Mugabe fights a rearguard battle in Zimbabwe to cling to office. They survive awhile, with the state security apparatus under their control. But there comes a time when that cannot be relied upon.

Since this is Bolehland, he ought to know of his BN colleagues: the UMNO president, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, three weeks ago; the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik earlier in the year; the SNAP leader, Dato' Amar James Wong; and to come: the Gerakan president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik; the Sarawak BN leader, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud; several BN mentris besar and cabinet ministers. In fact, only a handful of BN leaders ever leave on their own; all others were forced out in indignity. When the people move, nothing but nothing can stop them.

Dato' Seri Samy Vellu has only one reason to stay on. That he has worked hard to uplift the downtrodden Indian community that he has a future to look to. This is not counted by the number of Indian millionaires, spending RM1 million on his son's wedding, which did not last, major projects the Indians are involved only to fail, or that the Indian community now runs a medical school controlled by others, but by a deliberate programme to raise the living standards of the poorest section of the community, and a deliberate policy of weaning the community away from gangsterism and other ills of society which the Indian is officially victim to. But he cannot. He wants to stay on in the cabinet so he can ignore the Indian community. He could for so long for no reason than the UMNO president was prepared to have it that way. As Dr Ling found out, he mistook that for support. When push comes to shove, or if the puppet master changes, support for the ancien regime counts for nothing.

The BN lost control of Trengganu in 1999 for one reason and one only: the BN mentri besar there, who having mismanaged the state for two decades, insisted he ought to be given one more term to continue it. It was the best election weapon PAS had to capture the state. Pak Lah must decide if the MIC candidate in the Sungei Siput parliamentary constituency in the general election must be its president - with it the prospect of an Opposition win if he is. Even if he is returned, he must be prepared to remain a BN backbencher. Pak Lah is shrewd enough to realise that enough is enough. He wants, rightly, a clean slate. He prefers the MIC deputy president, Dato' S. Subramaniam, as the MIC minister. Dato' Seri Samy would rather he be anyone but him. Even if it is the PPP president, Dato' M. Kayveas.

Dato' Seri Samy believes now is the time to unite the fractious Indian political parties under his leadership. Never mind that only weeks earlier he considered their leaders less than vermin. But he would do anything if he could sideline Dato' S. Subramaniam. Unfortunately, Dato' Subramaniam has not proven himself as a leader the Indian would accept. Indian politics is decided not by the community but by the MIC president. That is its failing. All this man has shown is that he knows how to stick to his guns - but only when Dato' Seri Samy tries to oust him. But is that the qualification the Indian community needs to lift them out of their morass? A new leader untainted by the MIC scandals could change the community. For that, it must must show unexpected leadership to insist that its supreme leader holds office for no more than ten years, so that newer leaders could address familiar problems. Unfortunately, the Indian community is not yet in crisis. When it is, a leader will emerge. Could the Indian community wait that long? That is another matter.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my