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Category Archives: A New Look For MIC

MIC Toadies At Work

Now that Sami Vellu has won the President’s post without being challenged, the toadies like S.Ramis and T.Mohan have initiated their own re-branding of MIC. But, their ideas are not original, but the bidding of the Big Boss Samy Vellu.

Palanivel and Subramaniam are eligible to contest the number two post. Subra is a wash out, a fence sitter who should have said good bye to politics long ago. Remember this man whose origins go back to the time of Manigavasagam has been around from 1977 that is even before Sami Vellu became the President. Subra has nothing much to show from then till now. If anyone is available it is Palanivelu the incumbent, but under the shadow of Samy, he too is eclipsed.

The toadies want a new, young, vibrant and capable person for the deputy President. That is just telling Palanivel you are useless. The choice is Sothinathan, a relative and a President’s man, who I am sure is going to give Palanivel a hard time.

The dark horse in the race, an outsider, one who is being groomed, is none other than Vel Paari, the Presiden’t son. In the next few months he will be in the news often.  

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/24/nation/3538943&sec=nation

Samy Vellu told to name successor

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has been urged to name his successor, who will contest the deputy president’s post, to prevent in-fighting within the party when he leaves the scene.

Samy Vellu who was returned unopposed as president on Sunday – his 11th term – had stated that he would not again seek re-election.

MIC national youth advisory council chief S. Ramis, who made the call, said this would also ensure a smooth transition in the party leadership.

“We hope Samy Vellu will choose someone who is new, young, vibrant and capable of leading the party,” Ramis said yesterday.

Former deputy president Datuk S. Subra-maniam and incumbent Datuk G. Palanivel should not contest the number two post, he added.

Ramis was looking more to leaders like vice- president Datuk S. Sothinathan; secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is Human Resources Minister; and deputy ministers Datuk S.K. Devamany and Datuk M. Saravanan.

Elections for the deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members will be held at the MIC general assembly in September.

Both Palanivel and Sothinathan are actively campaigning to contest the number two post while Subramaniam is still undecided.

Ramis also said that state chairmen who had been holding the post for more than two terms should make way for younger leaders.

In another development, MIC Youth coordinator T. Mohan urged the Government to introduce religious education in Tamil schools as a means to overcome the social ills in the Indian community.

Mohan said the wing had submitted a letter to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammud-din Tun Hussein requesting the introduction of religious education in Tamil schools.

Kingdom Of MIC – The Rebranding Exercise

Continuing on the saga of the Kingdom of MIC, please refer to my earlier posting, the following improvements, changes will be forthcoming. They are:

  • A new tag line ‘A New Generation Party’ but theme remains ‘MIC cares’
  • New logo, new party song, new uniforms for the women, youth and puteri wings
  • 50% members comprised of youths
  • Call centres, manned by graduates, new web site

Good I thought, Samy Vellu had wasted long hours with his thinking cap on to get new ideas. Who else would or could come this far to rejuvenate the party and make it relevant to the Indians.

I was surprised that because it lacked a tag line, MIC failed miserably in the last elections. A few more tags would have been in order, like ‘a revitalised party’, ‘a party with more oomph’, ‘a party you will love’, etc etc, but I suppose these wordings won’t fit the tag.

I did not attend any campaign by a MIC politician, during the last elections. Therefore I am not sure how the leaders and supporters of MIC were attired. I may have hit something here, was it because of the poor or shabby dressing that the voters discarded MIC. Any comment.

MIC members are old and they could not be active to campaign efficiently, I can understand why Sam wants youths.

He has been contemplating call centres from last year, and even was in the process of getting a new building or extension; what! not implemented yet, yes, because he was waiting for the graduates.

Samy is mocking his members and the people especially the Indians. Rebranding means to infuse new ideas and direction to MIC which will win elections in the future and the party will not be discarded by the people. To arrive at the new ideas, one must analyse what went wrong and set about changing the short comings. The short coming factor is Samy and Samy alone. His arrogance, his cockiness that he knows all, his indifference to the plight of the Indians, his hate for Hindraf, his misuse of the party as a despot – are the reasons why MIC today is a splinter party on the throes of extinction and yet Samy believes otherwise.

His retort the Party will know when to rebrand the leadership, is a laughing matter. He can provide Kanchipuram silk sarees for the women or get A.R.Rahman to write the music for the party song, but without getting rid of the rubbish, the party will still sting. A single stroke of action to remove himself from the scene will see MIC rebranding itself without any cosmetic changes.

I read in Malaysiakini that Waythamoorthy believes the government revoked his passport in the hope that the British authorities would deport him to KL and be arrested under the ISA. Read it here. This in inter related to the rebranding of MIC, the Indians are hurt.

At the press conference, Samy Vellu also spoke on the rebranding of the party where he said the MIC had come up with a new tagline “A New Generation Party” but would maintain its theme “MIC Cares”.
Among the changes that it will bring under the rebranding exercise are a new logo, a new party song and new uniforms for the women, youth and puteri wings.
Samy Vellu said they would also ensure that 50 per cent of MIC members comprised youth.
Other changes include the establishment of a call centre that will be manned by two or three university graduates and launching of the MIC portal which will replace the previous website.
He said the re-branding exercise was necessary as the party needed a new approach to serve the community.
“If we do not keep up with the times, we may become irrelevant,” he said, adding that these changes would be presented at the MIC’s 62nd general assembly in July.
Asked about the leadership, Samy Vellu said: “We are re-branding the party now and the party will know when to rebrand the leadership.”

The New Straits Times Online……