The recent annoucement by MIC party President Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu inviting IPF to merge with MIC is not a new development. In the past, the same invitation was extended to the the MIC supremo.
However, the timing of the invitation is indeed the difference. After the March 8, 12th general election the BN's majority has slumped and the recent development in the Bota State assembly has further propelled the BN and its components to find ways and means to strengthen themselves. MIC launched its rebranding exercise soon after the aftermath of March 8 and has completed its first round of its exercise. The unification of the MIC-IPF will difinetely augur well for the 1.8 million indians who by large is the third biggest commmunity in Malaysia. However the community is dissected into few political parties and divided into many groups. Even the 3 Tamil newspapers readership is divided into MIC followers, Dato Subramaniam (ex deputy president, MIC) followers and others. With a large fragmentation of the community, the political strentgh and bargaining power are not fully realised. Couple with this the leadership tussle within the IPF after the demise of Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan, the Founder of IPF further breaks the fragmented community.
MIC with its 630,000 members and IPF with over 250,000 members can fully unite the indians and request for further assistance in porportion to its political strength.
However, the procedures of unification must be palatable for the IPF members who hold positions at branch, division, state and national level. As they will become members of a unified party the need for them to maintain their position as branch chairman, division chairman, state chairman etc need to be looked at a strategic level so that the unification can be smooth.
The time is indeed ripe for the Indian community to unite as pooling of resources and networking with a larger pool of professionals within the community can harness the community to greater economic and social prosperity. Given that the BN is almost in need to give it a facelift, the MIC presidents move is very timely and appropriate.
On the other hand , BN has to appeal to all Malaysians regardless of race, religion and creed and this only can be done if its component parties are credible and strong.
However, the timing of the invitation is indeed the difference. After the March 8, 12th general election the BN's majority has slumped and the recent development in the Bota State assembly has further propelled the BN and its components to find ways and means to strengthen themselves. MIC launched its rebranding exercise soon after the aftermath of March 8 and has completed its first round of its exercise. The unification of the MIC-IPF will difinetely augur well for the 1.8 million indians who by large is the third biggest commmunity in Malaysia. However the community is dissected into few political parties and divided into many groups. Even the 3 Tamil newspapers readership is divided into MIC followers, Dato Subramaniam (ex deputy president, MIC) followers and others. With a large fragmentation of the community, the political strentgh and bargaining power are not fully realised. Couple with this the leadership tussle within the IPF after the demise of Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan, the Founder of IPF further breaks the fragmented community.
MIC with its 630,000 members and IPF with over 250,000 members can fully unite the indians and request for further assistance in porportion to its political strength.
However, the procedures of unification must be palatable for the IPF members who hold positions at branch, division, state and national level. As they will become members of a unified party the need for them to maintain their position as branch chairman, division chairman, state chairman etc need to be looked at a strategic level so that the unification can be smooth.
The time is indeed ripe for the Indian community to unite as pooling of resources and networking with a larger pool of professionals within the community can harness the community to greater economic and social prosperity. Given that the BN is almost in need to give it a facelift, the MIC presidents move is very timely and appropriate.
On the other hand , BN has to appeal to all Malaysians regardless of race, religion and creed and this only can be done if its component parties are credible and strong.
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