Malaysian Indian Congress - History

History

At the outset, MIC was founded to represent the interests of ethnic Indians in Malaya, the majority of whom had been brought to the country from South India as indentured laborers by the British. The party's founder John A. Thivy (1946-1947) also sought to check social problems such as low literacy level, alcoholism and family violence faced by the Indian community. At the outset, the party was committed to positive inter-racial harmony and cooperation and obtaining a fair share of the economic cake for the Indian community.

It was the intense anti-British sentiment that made the MIC under the leadership of its second president Budh Singh (1947-1950) critical of the Malayan Union, which did not obtain Indian support.

Under its third president, K. Ramanathan was when the MIC contested in the 1952 Kuala Lumpur Municipal Elections in alliance with the multi-racial Independent Malayan Party (IMP) under Dato' Onn Jaafar and other non-communal organisations. However the results showed that the MIC’s attempt to preach and practise non-communalism would not prevail in Malayan politics when communalism was the winning factor.

In 1954, the MIC under its fourth leader K.L. Devaser (1951-1955) became the third partner in the Alliance with the Malay-based UMNO and the Malaysian Chinese-based MCA after realising that political alliances were fundamental to success in Malaysian politics of the time.

Under Tun V.T. Sambanthan who took over the party’s leadership as the fifth president (1955-1973) the party grew in membership and became a mass-based party, at the same time firmly entrenching itself as a partner of the Alliance. On August 31, 1957, Independence was achieved under the Merdeka Agreement, to which Sambanthan was a signatory.

One big challenge that the party faced during this time was the fragmentation of estates, that disrupted the livelihood of ordinary Indian workers. While the Malaysian government banned further fragmentation, the party sponsored the establishment of the National Land Finance Cooperative Society (NLFCS) comprising workers as members and used their periodic contributions to buy up whole estates.

During Tan Sri Dato' Seri V. Manickavasagam's term as the sixth president, the MIC became part of Barisan Nasional. The party sponsored the Nesa Multipurpose Cooperative and the MIC Unit Trust as part of its programme for economic ventures, and also set up the MIC Education Fund for members’ children and the Malaysian Indian Scholarship for higher education.

Nevertheless, Samy Vellu, who is the longest serving leader of a mainstream Malaysian political party, having been MIC president since October 12, 1979 has not been without controversy, marked by allegations of corruption and a perceived decline in Malaysian Indian welfare.

In 2006, Samy Vellu successfully ousted his long-time deputy, Dato' S Subramaniam and replaced him with Dato' G Palanivel. The process was done through the 2006 party elections.

On 6 December 2010, Samy Vellu then announced that he will no longer be the President, even though his current term expires on January 2011. His deputy, Dato' G. Palanivel took over the party leadership.