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Well, less said the better. Muthu may not last the race - either not enough nomination, or decides not to challenge, or unable to compete due to various reasons (technical, health, safety, etc). But, really, to even think of challenging Samy Vellu?

Veteran MIC leader Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan is considering challenging Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the post of MIC president.

Speaking to Bernama, the former MIC vice-president said over the past two weeks, he met members and grassroots leaders and their “feedback has been encouraging”. “I would not be making any official confirmation on the matter now. My supporters and branch leaders feel that if I announce my intention now, then they would have to face the wrath of Samy Vellu who may choose to expel those who support me.

“I also feel that Samy Vellu should be challenged in the interest of MIC, the Barisan Nasional and the Malaysian Indian community,” Muthupalaniappan said today.

Come March, the largest Indian party in the country would hold its presidential election, while the election of deputy president, three vice-president and 23 central working committee (CWC) seats would be held in September.

Samy Vellu has announced that he would defend the party top post and was initially, speculated to win the post uncontested.

However, Muthupalaniappan bid for the top post would see him throw a spanner in the works, if he manages to garner nominations from 50 branches.

The party constitution requires a presidential candidate to obtain at least 50 nominations from branches before he/she is allowed to contest for the top post.

Each nomination must be proposed by a branch office-bearer and seconded by five other branch office-bearers.

The branch office-bearers would cast their ballots to pick the MIC president, unlike for other national positions which would be decided by some 1,500 delegates to the party’s general assembly.

“There is also apprehension among branch leaders that the president might use his influence to discourage them from nominating me for the top post. I have been advised to make an official stand only in two or three weeks.

“In the meantime, I would be consulting senior party leaders on my intention,” said Muthupalaniappan who is known as Muthu in the party’s inner circles.

The 68-year-old Seremban-based Muthupalaniappan, who is a lawyer by profession, was first elected to the MIC central working committee in 1979. The same year, he was appointed Negeri
Sembilan MIC chief, and party Youth head.

He was made senator in 1980, and two years later, won the Si Rusa state assembly seat and
was appointed to the Negeri Sembilan state executive council.

He contested the party vice-presidency in 1987 and 1991 but lost both bids.

Muthupalaniappan eventually landed a veep seat in 1997 but failed to retain the post at the party’s 2000 and 2006 elections.

What do you think? Should Muthu go for it? Would Samy consider him as a serious challenger?

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Another glimmer of success is in sight after the PM and his deputy agreed “in principle” to MIC’s proposal (actually many other people suggested this idea as well especially via media and forums, but never mind, we give the honor to MIC) to set up a mechanism under Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) to increase the equity ownership among Indians in the country by three per cent in 2020, from the current 1.2 per cent.

According to Samy Vellu:

…the matter was agreed to by both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy, Dauk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also finance minister, when he met the two leaders recently.

“The special mechanism to be set up under PNB will use a similar model as the one used to assist the bumiputera community.

“I have asked the government to set aside an allocation as a form of partial grant and loan to be given to the Indians under the said mechanism,

Another success due to Makkal Sakthi I guess - MIC becoming a bit more relevant and improving a bit on their achievements. Perhaps they will even surpass their past 20 years achievement in the next one year itself.

But I still believe that it should be set at 10%, not 3%. Together with the grants and loans, the recipients should also be provided with some education and awareness on what are they getting into. No point the recipient getting RM1000 worth of units, but selling it off the next day to cover his/her daily expenses.

If can, the units may be linked to some sort of insurance scheme as well.

If done properly, this can be one of the channels to improve the financial status of the poor and underprivileged. However, it must be stressed that providing equity sharing is not enough. It will be falsity to think that the problems faced by the community will go away by giving RM500 million per year (yup, I’m expecting nothing less than that!) in loans and grants. There must be some fail-safe mechanism the amount is not misused by middlemen like MIC, or the recipients themselves. For example, we can put a 3 year “no sell back” clause.

Secondly, how to ensure the correct people get the help? As it is, even the poor and underprivileged are not properly tracked by Welfare Department, so what database are the authorities going to use? How about a list from KWSP? Take the employees of estates, public utilities providers, factories. The government’s employees list can also be obtained. From there, filter those who are earning XXX or less per month. This will be a start, but it would not include self-employed or the unemployed (like housewives).

While waiting the “agreement in principle” to be realised, better some think tanks start their research.

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Will there be a change of heart? What do you reader feel or think? Should English be continued to be used or should revert to Tamil? Or bilingual?

I don’t mind it being taught in English because of the resources available, and the ease in the future when students enter secondary school or tertiary education. Secondly, this will increase the amount of English language time in the school. The students can speak Tamil in school functions and daily activities in the school, in addition to Tamil language period.

However, proponents of Tamil as the medium can argue that materials are available in Tamil, and the possibility of those subjects being taught by non-Tamil teachers (less job for Indians). However, I think a clause can be included that the teacher of Science and Math must be bilingual so that can when necessary the teacher can provide explanation in either Tamil or English. By teaching in English, students will never learn science and maths terms in Tamil anymore.

Whatever it is, we must ensure that the adequate resources are available. No point saying English or Tamil when the schools lacks laptop, projector screens, power supply, Internet, or even competent teachers.

On another note, did you notice that the number of schools has become 522? Is it a printing error or wrong information provided by the Star? From 524, it became 523, and now 522? What is happening here?

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