COMMENT | The MIC's national treasurer, S Vell Paari, responded to my earlier statement and went on to declare that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has all the attributes to be termed the "father of the Malaysian Indian development".

In my earlier statement, I criticised Najib for bestowing such a title on himself without considering the plight and agony of the Indian community.

How could Najib claim the title of being "father of the development of the Indian community" when the community is such a dire state of affairs? Indians are considered as one of the most marginalised and exploited sections of the Malaysian society.

Vell Paari claims that Najib is the biggest contributor to the development of Indians, much more than what was done by earlier prime ministers. In this respect, it is nothing wrong for Najib to claim that he is the "father of the Indian community" on the grounds of what he has done so far for the advancement of the community.

He cited instances of Najib's financial contributions to Indians, such as the financial grant of RM900 million for the development of Tamil schools, RM100 million for Indian places of worship and RM1.3 billion for the implementation of the Malaysian Indian Blueprint.

As I have always said, MIC leaders lack the backbone, autonomy, and self-respect to pioneer the development of the Indian community from the time of its formation to the present day.

The dependency syndrome has become the hallmark of the MIC leaders. They have become so slavish that they would not lift their fingers to help the Indian community without a nod from senior Umno leaders.

A relationship of subservience

In fact, as I have remarked many a time, the relationship between MIC and Umno is not a relationship built on mutual respect but on the grounds of the subservience of the former towards the latter.

Najib might be the prime minister and he might have dished out more financial aid compared to the earlier prime ministers to the Indian community. However, does such financial assistance filter down to the lower sections of the community?

Going on the basis of the past history, sometimes the problem is not the grant of financial assistance, but whether such assistance reaches the target groups or whether such assistance gets hijacked by certain groups within the MIC.

The Telecoms shares of Maika Holdings is one example of how shares meant for the Indian community was hijacked by certain persons in the MIC hierarchy.

Vell Paari made this statement praising Najib just to ensure that he catches the attention of the prime minister. The general election is around the corner and he wants to be given a seat to contest. He knows that his father does not have the power or influence to order things around in the MIC.

The MIC president, Dr S Subramaniam, might have his own list of candidates and Vell Paari might not be included in this list. In this respect, Vell Paari wants the intervention of Najib. So much for Vell Paari's love for Najib!

Even if Vell Paari is not keen to ingratiate himself to Najib, the fact that he would call him the "father of the Indian community" speaks about the nature and calibre of the leaders in the MIC and to what extent they have the capability to lead the community in the coming years.

A deprived community like Indians cannot make any headway if the MIC leaders like Vell Paari lack the elementary guts to speak without fear or favour about the state of affairs of the community.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.