The recent MIC party election is so crucial for its survival
in future. MIC has always asserted that it represents the Indian community as a
whole in Malaysia. The functionality and pure determination to serve the
community will define whether the elected leadership has garnered enough
support and trust of the community or not.
The current leadership is at a crossroads. The leadership
needs to set aside the selfishness, nepotism and cronyism for the betterment of
this destitute community in Malaysia. It is essential that the policies and
initiatives brought by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are channelled for the
community alone without any favours. The elected leadership needs to put the
interest of community first, rather than the interest of the leaders and
members of this party.
Dr S Subramaniam is seen as the person who is steering the
community in a new direction. The combination of well-educated leaders in the
leadership of MIC has become a rarity in recent times. Dr Subramaniam has the
great opportunity to set a new visionary direction on how the community needs
to be elevated in this country.
For the smooth running of the party to achieve greater
heights, he needs to use the approach of Confucius; and for the troublemakers
within the party, he needs to use Machiavellian strategies to eliminate them
from the party for the benefit of the community.
Another paramount task of Dr Subramaniam will be to
consolidate the fractured community by inviting back past leaders who had left
the party because of the previous leadership policy of divide and rule. In my
view he is able to do that because members of the party and community have seen
him as an accountable and approachable leader.
Further, Dr Subramaniam can depart himself from the
conventional demands of the Indian community i.e citizenship issues, poverty,
temples and Tamil schools. Even though these issues are still very much
relevant for the community and will be election issues in future, a new
direction is vital at this juncture.
Firstly, the wealth of the Indian community relatively low
compared to other communities in Malaysia. This is because it was deprived
under the previous leadership and this needs to be addressed quickly.
This can be done through substantial increase in equity. The
grants that the community is getting from the government through the party can
be used to buy the portfolios of blue chip companies, and in the meantime some
of the portions can be used to buy properties not only in Malaysia but around
the globe, especially immature property market like in India, Asean and African
countries.
For this purpose a committee of party leaders and community
leaders needs to be established who are well-versed in wealth management and
who have high integrity and accountability.
Another important task for Dr Subramaniam is to look into
the well-being of the young Indian persons. The high number of dropouts and
involvement with criminal activities especially on drugs and gangs among Indian
youths are alarming.
Invigorating the younger generation
Therefore his leadership needs to come up with policies,
strategies and implementation to reeducate and invigorate the affected younger
generation of the Indian community, especially from the age of 15 to 25, to
distance themselves with crimes and gangs.
He can play an important role by initiating within his party
to form a committee or foundation comprised of leaders of community,
non-governmental organizations and Indian student associations from
universities and colleges. He has to take a personal interest to see that this
committee or foundation is well run to make sure the future generation of
Indian community are prepare for any challenges in the near future.
In a nutshell it is not an easy task to be leader of Indian
community and MIC. The challenges and expectations are always unfulfilled. The
difference between a leader and statesman is the legacy. Dr Subramaniam has the
opportunity to create a legacy for himself now. It’s very rare.
Whether he has used his opportunity well or not, only the
future generation of the Indian community will determine by evaluating his
achievements in uplifting the Indian community in Malaysia. Let’s wait and see.
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