Lawyer Murugesan Sinnavandar, 42, who stood for Subang parliamentary seat in the last General Elections, was selected to be the MIC secretary-general. Putera MIC coordinator, P Kamalanathan was appointed as MIC information chief. They both replace Dr S Subra and Saravanan respectively. Samy said its part of the process to attract younger people to join MIC.  Meanwhile, Datuk Jaspal Singh, 47, was appointed as Treasurer.

“I have chosen someone young to be the MIC secretary general. This is to show that the party is changing and this is one of the way for us to attract the younger generation,” Samy Vellu said in his closing speech at MIC’s 63rd general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre today.

And they are going to allow for online registration too (something that was mentioned last year itself).

For a start, we will begin the online registration of new members through the MIC portal to attract the younger generations and professionals to join the party.

The party will also open up more branches headed by young people. We have identified at least 2,000 graduates for this purpose,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dato Subra will be facing referred (again) to the discplinary board as mentioned by Samy:

Former MIC deputy president Datuk S Subramaniam will be referred to the party’s disciplinary board on a charge of bringing supporters to disrupt the party’s 63rd general assembly yesterday, MIC president S Samy Vellu said.

“The group, comprising about 500 people, tried to create chaos. We are gathering information on this.

“I know who these groups are and so do the authorities. Disciplinary action will be taken against him. I’ve never seen incidents like this… I see it as an attempt to scare the delegates,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the second and final day of the general assembly today.

Among the eight resolutions made (read it here too) :

1. the government allocate loans through agencies or financial agencies to the Indian community to enable its members to purchase shares issued by the government. Such a step would supplement the government’s step to allocate 499 units of Amanah Saham Malaysia shares for the community.

2. On the issue of education, the MIC wants the government to prepare pre-school education opportunities for 80 per cent of Tamil schools as opposed to the 17.5 per cent now.

3. MIC wants the Education Ministry to increase the limit of subjects for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination from 10 to 11 so that science stream SPM candidates can sit for the Tamil language and Tamil literature papers.

4. The party also welcomed the ‘1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now’ concept as well as the liberal policy of Najib.

5. The delegates also pledged their “wholehearted support” to MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for his role in helping the party uplift the Indian community. ”We appreciate the president’s efforts in making the party more relevant to the needs of the Indian community through the rebranding exercise,” they noted.

6. On skills training, the delegates want the programmes to be widely publicised and promoted to enable Indian youths a chance to gain new skills

7. The delegates also appreciated the government’s efforts to provide more funds for small and medium enterprises stating that it would help Indian SMEs. However, they want the government to expedite the disbursement of loans, ensure regular and systematic follow-ups with recipients and have an effective mechanism to monitor the loan disbursement.

I hope the resolutions don’t end up in the usual place. 🙂

Do you still remember the points mentioned during the general assembly in 2007? No? Let’s refer to the Star:

The MIC has formulated four activities to strengthen its political position as the sole representative of the Indian community in the country.

Its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the activities included a major exercise to register every eligible Indian as a voter.

Divisions must organise voter registration campaigns and also make house-to-house visits, he said in his closing address at the MIC general assembly here yesterday.

Samy Vellu said that a bureau, to be headed by a Central Working Committee member, would undertake the campaign as well as make the necessary preparations for the forthcoming general election.

Elected representatives at Parliament and state assemblies must also ensure that they resolved problems of all communities in their constituencies and submit a report to him.

Samy Vellu said that a series of 17 seminars had been planned to chart the work and responsibilities of over 4,300 party branch leaders.

On the economic front, he said the party would follow up with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the establishment of a dedicated delivery mechanism to ensure effective delivery of the Ninth Malaysia Plan for the Indian community.

“Our economic bureau will also identify 5,000 micro Indian entrepreneurs by 2010, provide them basic training and enable them to have access to microbusiness loans,” he said.

On education, he said there would be a review of the performance of Indian students in the SPM and STPM before strategies and remedies to improve their overall performance are developed.

“We will also identify Indian youths with intelligence and academic excellence and help them to access world-class higher educational institutions,” he said.

Samy Vellu said the party would identify 5,000 under-achieving youths at the SPM level and channel them into skills and industrial training institutions yearly.

“We will also review the remove class system where there are currently 6,000 Indian students, the status of teachers in Tamil schools, and Indians employed as teachers, headmasters, lecturers and in other positions in the Education Ministry,” he said.

He said a paper would be submitted to the Chief Secretary to the Government, on the appeals from excellent students who failed to obtain scholarships to pursue their studies overseas.

Samy Vellu said the party would identify the poor families, especially single mothers and the elderly, and ensure they received help through the welfare department.

Earlier, the MIC unanimously passed an amendment to the party constitution to allow the creation of Putra MIC at state and division levels for those aged between 18 and 30.

The party’s constitution amendment committee chairman, Tan Sri M. Mahalingam, said that the wing’s division level leaders would be elected while the state leaders would be appointed.

Is there some sort of report card to see the progress of those plans?

The assembly also saw changes to party constitution:

1. Limiting the presidency and division chairmanship to 3 terms only;

2. Branches to have minimum 60 members instead of 100. “Subject to the approval of the central working committee, a new branch may be established at such locality as the divisional congress may think appropriate, provided the application for the formation of such new branch congress is made in writing to the divisional secretary and signed by at least 60 persons in that locality,” the amendment reads.

3. Provision pertaining to the number of delegates a branch could have based on the number of members. Previously a branch was entitled to have a delegate for every 100 members but now the proportion is amended to one delegate per 60 members.

4. allows for the applications of membership through the Internet but they must be approved by the party’s central working committee, the party’s highest decision-making body

Among the suggestions made by Samy at the assembly:

1. MSC status for AIMST and surrounding areas

2. annual grant for AIMST

3. Intake of Indians into the civil service be expedited to achieve the 7.4% quota for the community set by the Government.

4. Government to instruct government-linked companies to provide adequate employment opportunities for Indians.

Anyway, this general assembly would be remembered for the “change” and “popular”  speech by PM Najib, something which Samy sees as incorrect.

And finally some quotes from the delegates:

“This government wants Indian support but at the same time works on splitting Indians,” stressed S Pulikesi from Batu Gajah, Perak.

“If these Indians (outside of MIC) claim that (MIC) leaders didn’t do anything, then they should join MIC and change the community,” he said.

His call came after Ampang MIC delegate M Muniandy criticised Mahathir for his caustic remarks against Samy Vellu.

“We clapped and welcomed Mahathir whenever he attended MIC meetings. Our president also praised him. Yet now, he (Mahathir) accuses Samy Vellu of not doing anything.

“If we accept that Samy Vellu didn’t do anything for the Indians, then what have you (Mahathir) done for the Indians in the 22 years (that he was premier)? Have you fulfilled all of our requests?” he asked.

“All of us are doing work on the ground and we have been campaigning more than MCA and Umno,” said T Nadesan from Pasir Gudang.

“We are a big party but we still have to beg from Umno for allocations,” he added.

Shah Alam delegate S Vickneswari praised Samy Vellu for his leadership, saying that Indians would still be tapping rubber trees in the estates if not for him.

“If our children question what MIC has done for the community, we should give them a tight slap and enlighten them,” she said. [whoa! cruelty and crime!]

As for party members, she stressed: “If we question MIC, we are questioning ourselves.”

Another woman delegate urged delegates not to praise Samy Vellu and other leaders too much.

“MIC members should discard this attitude … it is a bad habit,” she said.