The recent MIC party election is so crucial for its survival in future. MIC has always asserted that it represents the Indian community as a whole in Malaysia. The functionality and pure determination to serve the community will define whether the elected leadership has garnered enough support and trust of the community or not.

The current leadership is at a crossroads. The leadership needs to set aside the selfishness, nepotism and cronyism for the betterment of this destitute community in Malaysia. It is essential that the policies and initiatives brought by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are channelled for the community alone without any favours. The elected leadership needs to put the interest of community first, rather than the interest of the leaders and members of this party.

Dr S Subramaniam is seen as the person who is steering the community in a new direction. The combination of well-educated leaders in the leadership of MIC has become a rarity in recent times. Dr Subramaniam has the great opportunity to set a new visionary direction on how the community needs to be elevated in this country.

For the smooth running of the party to achieve greater heights, he needs to use the approach of Confucius; and for the troublemakers within the party, he needs to use Machiavellian strategies to eliminate them from the party for the benefit of the community.

Another paramount task of Dr Subramaniam will be to consolidate the fractured community by inviting back past leaders who had left the party because of the previous leadership policy of divide and rule. In my view he is able to do that because members of the party and community have seen him as an accountable and approachable leader.

Further, Dr Subramaniam can depart himself from the conventional demands of the Indian community i.e citizenship issues, poverty, temples and Tamil schools. Even though these issues are still very much relevant for the community and will be election issues in future, a new direction is vital at this juncture.

Firstly, the wealth of the Indian community relatively low compared to other communities in Malaysia. This is because it was deprived under the previous leadership and this needs to be addressed quickly.

This can be done through substantial increase in equity. The grants that the community is getting from the government through the party can be used to buy the portfolios of blue chip companies, and in the meantime some of the portions can be used to buy properties not only in Malaysia but around the globe, especially immature property market like in India, Asean and African countries.

For this purpose a committee of party leaders and community leaders needs to be established who are well-versed in wealth management and who have high integrity and accountability.

Another important task for Dr Subramaniam is to look into the well-being of the young Indian persons. The high number of dropouts and involvement with criminal activities especially on drugs and gangs among Indian youths are alarming.

Invigorating the younger generation

Therefore his leadership needs to come up with policies, strategies and implementation to reeducate and invigorate the affected younger generation of the Indian community, especially from the age of 15 to 25, to distance themselves with crimes and gangs.

He can play an important role by initiating within his party to form a committee or foundation comprised of leaders of community, non-governmental organizations and Indian student associations from universities and colleges. He has to take a personal interest to see that this committee or foundation is well run to make sure the future generation of Indian community are prepare for any challenges in the near future.

In a nutshell it is not an easy task to be leader of Indian community and MIC. The challenges and expectations are always unfulfilled. The difference between a leader and statesman is the legacy. Dr Subramaniam has the opportunity to create a legacy for himself now. It’s very rare.

Whether he has used his opportunity well or not, only the future generation of the Indian community will determine by evaluating his achievements in uplifting the Indian community in Malaysia. Let’s wait and see.