The has-been party dilemma: MIC In Limbo

"We had to go through rigorous shoulder muscle training to prepare for the event".

There is a scene in the great, epic masterpiece film, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) where Tuco (the brilliant Eli Wallach) is languishing in a bathtub enjoying the bubbles when a bunch of thugs barges in waving their guns, and the leader of the group starts yapping about this and that, going on and on as to how they were going to blow Tuco to shreds. Tuco lifts a revolver out of the water (don’t ask) and shoots all of them and says, “When you want to shoot, shoot! Don’t talk!”

This immediately came to my mind when I saw the headline from Sinar Daily saying, “MIC: ‘If you want to leave, just leave, no need to go around in ’circles’—Mani Maran.” Mani is a former MIC Sungai Siput Division Chief. Old-timers who follow politics know that Singai Siput is the late Samy Velu’s fort (the link has a tribute, well, sort of, an article I wrote a few years ago for a portal).

He was, of course, referring to the “threat” MIC leaders keep issuing about wanting to leave the Barisan National (BN) coalition. This is coming from a party, which, for the 15^th General Election, contributed to a total of… (drum roll please) 1 win. It is not a threat, of course; this media used to word “weighing in”, or if you want to go softer, I would use, “mulling.” And it is not the first time MIC has been talking about leaving the coalition, hence Mani’s statement.

To say it has been a tumultuous time for the Malaysian Indian Congress would be to give them some brownie points (though this sounds a bit racist). Truth is, it’s whacky time for a political party that is now as relevant as BlackBerry phones. Ever since the Indian community rejected the party and started embracing the multi-racial parties in Pakatan Harapan (never mind that they are poorly represented), MIC has been doing some soul searching. I suppose. Nah, it’s too loud for that.

It has gone to the point of grasping at the last straws when the leaders collectively decided that they should embolden themselves, go on a campaign spree to show that they can still be relevant, and…and….

Who am I kidding? What did they do? They threatened to leave BN. It is like a dishwashing employee threatening to quit the restaurant. I suppose BN is not responding to that because they do think of past MIC leaders’ contributions, chiefly the abovementioned Samy Vellu who became one of the major forces in that coalition. Also, BN leaders are not bothered about mosquitos buzzing (opposite intha kossu tholla thAnggamudiyalappA)

Meanwhile, I decided to check on how well they are doing, starting from their online presence. I started with their official website and was immediately accosted by a picture of both the party’s deputy president, Saravanan, and president, Vigneswaran, in big garlands (separately, that is) taken during their recent AGM as you see above. Go to their Facebook pages; it’s the same leader’s glorification all over.

There is not a hint of stuff that they are working hard to fulfil the party’s mission in…in… Hang on, what was the struggle again? Hmm…

I know that it’s unfair to make fun of a drowning man. And to be fair, they deserve to laughed at too. As the prologue of an old Tamil song goes, Aadiya Attam enna….pesiya vArthai enna… (All those activities said, all those words said). Back in the day, the members of the Indian community were venerating these leaders, and the latter basked in the glory. They get invited to every and any event, including babies’ ear-piercing functions. Datuk this, Dato’ that. There were more of them than pork chops during the swine flu days.

But the days of getting invited to prestigious events are now over. Maybe some cheap concerts by localised SPBs and TMSes, they will give you a smaller garland and some kutthuvilakkus (kinda like brass candlelight, but very usable as a murder weapon. What else does kutthu means?). Maybe they have been keeping stocks of the kutthuvilakkus gathering dust in their headquarters building. If you know what I mean. You know, rather than existing in shame, feeling unwanted.

Oh well, the flowers in the garlands may wither, hairs may go grayer, or cease to exist altogether. But the MGR and Rajinikanth lookalike concerts still need someone to officiate them. An MIC leader, is the go-to person.