Good morning. It’s former Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president Tun S. Samy Vellu’s 83rd birthday and hours before the Barisan Nasional (BN) Supreme Council meets at 2pm today.
The MIC leaders gather for breakfast at a hotel where they are astonished to find something missing from the buffet spread.
There’s everything but the eggs are missing.
They look for the eggs. There are no eggs.
One of them finds the eggs. They are all over ‘brave’ MIC president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran’s face.
Vigneswaran’s face is so roundly egged. It is a ‘politician omelette’.
Vigneswaran’s lieutenants are confused.
They wonder if their leader’s plan to exit Barisan Nasional and merge with the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) are scrambled, not sunny side up.
And so, the day begins with uncertainty for the MIC, seeking to push its race based politics with pretentious pace and adventure despite the MCA-MIC arena being as soggy as a bag of undercooked chips.
It is an apparent collective suicide. Both parties have heaped ridicule on themselves by opting to become a living nightmare.
No wonder then that the MIC flag has been at half-mast since the party’s questionable representation of the Indian community over the years and the predictable rituals of defeat in the 14th General Election.
MIC supporters have been left to ruminate on the brutal puncturing of the party and what might have been.
Their indignation at flawed party leaders who allowed Umno, the manipulative and superior BN party, to dictate terms spells dark times for the MIC.
There are two ways of looking at MIC leaving the BN and forming a party with the MCA: it is either jinxed or both the partners are going to pay an awful price.
The MIC is standing on the brink of the abyss. And there is only one thing tired about it: excuses.
How empty it all seems now. A union with the MCA is no quick fix, certainly not an upgrade. There is nowhere to go for both the pretenders.
Being with the MCA is a definite sign-up for another period of staggering blindly through the wilderness.
Why? Because the MCA that is also peering into a chasm and experiencing an equally queasy, sinking feeling will have no time for Indian affairs.
MIC leaders will feel their palms turn clammy every time every decision, each twitch and grimace will be analysed by the MCA as signs of stupidity or drool and vice versa.
To be blunt, both parties spend a lot of their time dealing with the humdrum. Some behavioural experts call it a dodge or an evade. Creating a false impression is lying.
There have been murmurings of discontent from some within the set-up at a perceived lack of preparatory work.
Instead of playing at a very high tempo, this band of spoilt kids, left free to do what they like has no limit and no sense of duty to the nation.
The ‘solidarity’ between the MIC and MCA is an illusion. It’s a farce; its froth is just a stink bomb that will keep on exploding.
Shallow politics of the moment trivialise the most important relationship in the country and the magnitude of the real strains.
You’d expect both the MCA and MIC to correct the imbalances that thwart Malaysia’s recovery. Instead, they are wasting time assigning blame and hoping the country’s biggest challenges work themselves out.
A rebalancing is nowhere in sight – everyone wants to be the Malaysian political idol.
They lack competitiveness that would have the other looking over the shoulder. They are lost souls who lack national happiness. They straddle the line between deception, confusion and evasion.
The MCA and MIC have long been a letdown, not impressive in their desire to show that their policies are the best.
They have not been passionate about serving their constituents without whom they wouldn’t have achieved success.
The people they were trying to entice have given them ridiculously low ratings when it came to honesty and ethical standards.
MCA and MIC politicians platform on the politics of audacity – outrageous and audacious stance on affairs of the nation.
Yes, another example of the opposite of stated intentions is playing out before our eyes.
Clearly, race-based politics in Malaysia negates normal social relations. And there are clear signs of barefaced racism.
You think the MCA and MIC care? Word is the clown talk will continue.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
