MIC mulls pulling out of new cabinet - Malaysiakini

MIC is considering pulling out its ministers from the new cabinet over a number of unresolved issues, chief among them is the "treatment accorded by the new administration to the Indian community", said a party insider today.

MCPX

Although this might appear to be an unlikely scenario, he said MIC was willing to become a standalone party within Barisan Nasional and concentrate its effort to unite the Indian community.

"The decision is expected to be made soon, perhaps at the next MIC central working committee meeting later this month," he said.

The party will nevertheless continue to remain in the ruling BN coalition.

According to the party insider who is close to the MIC leadership, topping the list of grouses is that the Indians were still being 'treated as second or even third-class' citizens in the country.

Secondly, and perhaps the main reason for the pull-out threat, is because the new cabinet line-up saw the absence of a senior ministerial portfolio for MIC despite the party's repeated appeal to former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to return the Works Ministry to MIC.

MIC was traditionally allocated the Works Ministry portfolio but this changed after the March 8 general election last year which saw party president and the incumbent minister S Samy Vellu defeated in his Sungai Siput constituency.

The party's sole representative in the new cabinet is secretary-general Dr S Subramaniam (left) who was reappointed as human resources minister.

The party also has two deputy ministers namely M Saravanan (Federal Territories Ministry) and SK Devamany (Prime Minister's Department).

'We have been brushed aside'

The Human Resources Ministry, said the party insider, is considered a junior post in the cabinet and MIC felt that it does not reflect the party's status as the third largest component party in BN.

"Despite many Indian voters returning to the BN fold in the recent Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang by-elections due to the hard work of MIC, the party was treated unfairly.

"We have been brushed aside in the new line-up and this has further eroded the support of the Indian community to the BN government," he said.

The party insider said Najib did not take notice of the return of the Indian voters to BN in the two by-elections although the ruling coalition lost in the two constituencies.

"Many Indians and MIC had expected the party to be allocated a senior ministerial position in the new cabinet but their expectations are lost.

"The Indian community also noticed that more concentration was given to communities which did not at all vote for BN for a long time," he added, referring to MCA which had its four cabinet representatives maintained in senior posts while an additional deputy minister's post was also given.

The party insider claimed that there is a lot of distress among the Indian community currently as they felt that their representative was sitting in a junior ministerial post while the two deputy minister's posts allocated to the party did not have the muscle to contribute to the community.

"By pulling out of the cabinet, we can decide which directions to take independently," he said.

When contacted, Samy Vellu declined to comment on the matter but those close to the veteran politician conceded that he was very unhappy with the current situation.

Najib had revealed his new cabinet line-up on Thursday after holding a series of meetings with BN leaders, including the MIC president.