I refer to the Malaysiakini report MIC Youth chief quits party.

Understandably, the recent events surrounding Anwar Ibrahim has overshadowed much of the other headlines in the news. I wanted to, however, not let go without some commentary the fact that the MIC Youth chief, SA Vigneswaran, had quit his post and membership in the party.

Vigneswaran has apparently become dispensable to Samy Vellu and was being pressured to quit his party post. I quote:

‘Once seen as a blue-eyed boy of the president, his fortunes continued to tumble when Samy announced wide-ranging reforms in the party, a move that could sideline Vigneswaran further.

‘The final straw came when Samy announced that Vigneswaran should step down from being the youth chief as he had exceeded the party constitutional age limit of 40.

‘Vigneswaran, who is 42, refused to do so, on the grounds that he was elected and he would finish his term which would expire next year.’

The report also notes that Vigneswaran called on Samy Vellu to ‘relinquish’ the post of party president. As you may know, Samy has actually expressed a desire to continue as party president for another term.

Vigneswaran, let me welcome you to the other side of the track where the majority of Indian Malaysian reside and opt not to be subjected to the repugnant and obnoxious manipulators within the party.

Yes, I’m glad you saw the light and walked away from the tentacles of the debilitating world of Samy Vellu, the world where we are free from the abuses and exploits of a ‘gangster-style’ self- consumed president.

I say, better late than never. Yet, I have to admit, what surprises me is why it seems to take individuals like you so long to recognise the obvious! Well, let’s not dwell on that issue.

I must, however, make a plea to you to help raise further awareness and to speak out against the kind of debased politics that seem to have contaminated the highest office of the party.

As citizens, we have an obligation to speak out. As you have made clear, you desire to continue to work for the advancement of the Indian community in the country. I commend you for your commitment.

I also urge you to ‘educate’ your fellow Malaysians about the problems that plague your former political party. Mind you, I am not one who, by any stretch of the imagination, feels invested in the MIC.

I would prefer to see it self-destruct. I know we Indians would be better served without it. And that is why I call on you and all other self-respecting present and former MIC members to join hands and educate your fellow Malaysians why they have no future by investing their energy and resources in such a party.

Unless you and others like you speak out more regularly and vociferously – and as we have also seen from recent unrelated events surrounding Anwar Ibrahim - the more things change, the more they will stay the same.  Source : Malaysiakini

Hishammuddin sad that Viki has quit MIC youth

Source : MalaysiaToday.com

The invitation was made through the PAS Supporters’ Club today. Vigneswaran and several other youth leaders had severed their ties with MIC after having a fall out with the party’s veteran president S Samy Vellu.

“Let us join forces and battle for equality and justice for all races in this country,” said PAS national committee for unity chief Khariul Faizi Ahmad Kamil in a statement today,

Khariul also welcomed other MIC members to join PAS.

sa vigneswaran, Besides Vigneswaran, other prominent figures that left MIC are Kedah branch Youth chief R Nantha Kumar, secretary TM Ganesan, treasurer M Selvan and information head S Somasunther.

Their move came after MIC head Samy Vellu asked Vigneswaran, who is 42, to resign from the youth chief post as he had exceeded the party constitutional age limit of 40.

Vigneswaran had first refused step down and insisted he would finish his term in office - until next party elections next March - before doing so.

However on Sunday, stating that he has not support to go against the president, Vigneswaran decided to leave the party altogether.

‘More will leave’

In his statement today, Khariul further elaborated that more will quit or move from the Indian-based BN component party because of a raging internal crisis and the unreasonable attitude of Samy Vellu.

“Vigneswaran’s drastic decision to terminate all affiliations with the party was simply because he lost confidence in Samy Vellu’s leadership,” said Khariul.

According to Khariul, MIC Kedah Youth leader Nantha Kumar believed a conspiracy had taken place at the highest level in the party in order to oust Vigneswaran. Read more …..

Barisan Nasional Youth chairman Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said he sympathised with the leaders and took a serious view into their hardship.

“I cannot get involved in the affairs of other component parties, but as the Barisan Youth chairman I am responsible for all fellow Youth members,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Hishammuddin said a post-mortem he carried out after the recent general election showed that Barisan did not obtain full support from the younger generation.

“Thus, the resignation of several Barisan Youth members is a very serious matter for the Barisan Youth leadership,” he said, adding that it was his duty as the Barisan Youth chairman to list all the grouses faced by them and help them take the next step forward.

“I give an assurance that these members will obtain a place in Barisan.” Source : The Star

Announcing his decision, Vigneswaran criticised party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for humiliating him by accusing him of supporting others against the party chief.

“I have no more confidence in the party chief so I am quitting and more people will follow because in the coming weeks I will open the Pandora’s Box.

Meeting the media: Vigneswaran smiling for the camera during his press conference in Shah Alam yesterday to announce his resignation.

“I hereby declare that I shall effective from 3.45pm today (yesterday) quit as a member of MIC, a membership I have proudly held for the past 25 years,” Vigneswaran said at a press conference here yesterday.

He added that he had no immediate intention of joining any other party or returning to MIC even if Samy Vellu quit.

Vigneswaran said he was also considering legal action against Samy Vellu over allegations that Vigneswaran supported the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

He said he was upset with claims made by Samy Vellu that a parliamentary seat candidate from Klang who lost the recent elections had been conspiring with Hindraf to organise a demonstration in front of the MIC office.

“If he is a true gentleman and is so sure of his sources then he should come out in the open and name me,” Vigneswaran said.

Vigneswaran said he had come to realise that all that he had done during his time with MIC had been to serve the party chief and not the organisation, so it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to continue serving.

“From the feedback from the grassroots, it is not the MIC that the people feel strongly against but the party president for failing to address the needs of the community and yet he announces that he will seek re-election for another term,” he said.

He said Samy Vellu should emulate MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, who refused a ministerial post despite winning his seat and decided not to stand in the next party elections.

Source : The Star

Vigneswaran said he had no immediate intention to join another party and also had not decided if he rejoin it if the party number one was to leave.  Read more …..

In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Indian community, the MIC youth and the MIC. Throughout the long and difficult period of pre and post 2008 elections, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office as Youth Leader by defending the purpose of MIC and the visions of its President to every Indian who cast stone at MIC.

In the past few weeks, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in MIC to justify continuing that effort. With the disappearance of that base, I now believe that an unconstitutional decision to remove me as the youth leader has been sealed, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But the President of MIC thinks otherwise.
To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the MIC in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of community solidarity and development.

I would be called ungrateful as that is the norm of the President. Who is ungrateful? Are people who are in position for 4 years, one term, two terms ungrateful or the person and family who have been surviving for 30 years on MIC ticket? As leaders, we should make decisions for the interest of our organization even if such decision is detrimental to us. The organization we serve must come first, not the individual leader.

Even after the fateful defeat of MIC in the general elections and the adverse feedback from the grassroot community blaming not the MIC but only ‘an individual’ who has failed to address the crying needs of the community, yet the president announces that he shall seek re election for another term.

The misery MIC is reaping today is from what it has sown yesterday, and it will not only continue, but increase until it begins to sow today for a different harvest tomorrow.

I salute the decision of the President of MCA, Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting and his Deputy, Dato Seri Chan Kong Choy. Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting who won the Parliamentary seat refused to assume the office of ministership and further today, for the benefit of the party, declared he will not be seeking re election as President. But we cannot expect such noble declarations coming from the immortal MIC President.

Today I would like to tell my boys and the members of MIC that there is life after MIC. MIC will not close shop because of my departure.

Neither will MIC close shop after the demise of the President as no leader is indispensable.

When one realizes he has become a liability to the very organization he serves, then it is only right that he vacates his office for the survival and betterment of the organization.

My advice to the MIC President is ‘LEAVE AND PROVE THAT YOU CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT MIC OR BE PREPARED TO BURY MIC’.

I have always believed that our youth are the backbone of the community and the foundation on which to develop our noble civilization. But I will not use the traditional slogan of “youth are the future” as MIC leadership fails to take into account that the youth wing is a very active contributor to it today.

As a MIC member, I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

But with a forced move to remove my office in MIC, I HEREBY AS A MAN WHO WALK MY TALK, HEREBY DECLARE THAT I SHALL EFFECTIVE 3PM TODAY, QUIT AS THE MEMBER OF MIC, A MEMBERSHIP I HAVE BEEN PROUDLY HOLDING FOR 25 YEARS.

I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as MIC Youth Leader for the past 6 years. These years have been a momentous time for the youth community and me.

They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the MIC, the Youth, and the people.

I shall continue to maintain my friendship with my good friends in Barisan Nasional and I shall seek audience with Dato Seri Hishammudin Tun Hussein Onn to see how I could contribute further for the development of Indian youth.

I pledge to all my brothers here today that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years. I shall mobilize the Malaysian Indian Youth Development Foundation (MIYDF) to uplift the Indian community.

With MIYDF, I will once again, outside of politics, serve the common good and move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our community.

We will not elaborate on what MIYDF intends to achieve at this juncture as its actions shall speak louder than words.

In MIYDF, there will be no dictatorship.
The youth shall make decisions and we shall implement their plans for the betterment of community.
To those who have stood with me during these past difficult weeks, to my youth, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.

And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward you, because all of us, in MIC in the final analysis, have been more loyal and fearful of the President of MIC than with the good of the community.

I have nothing against MIC. My youth here and I realize we have been serving the ‘One Man’ not the organization called MIC. My love for the Indian community does not end with MIC.

Thank you.

SA. Vigneswaran Chairman, Malaysian Indian Youth Development Foundation (MIYDF)
Contact : SA. Vigneswaran (019-3832281)
www.savigneswaran.com
www.miydf.org
Khanna (012-2389789)

Pengumuman tersebut dibuat pada pukul 3.45 petang semasa beliau berucap pada majlis penyertaan sukarelawan Yayasan Pembangunan Belia India di Bangunan Hokkien Klang di sini hari ini. - Utusan

The others who quit yesterday were Kedah MIC Youth secretary T.M. Ganesan, treasurer M. Selvan and information chief S. Somasunther.

The four said their decision was in protest against the MIC central working committee’s decision to ask party Youth chief Datuk S.A. Vigneswaran to step down because he had passed the age limit of 40.

Nanthakumar, 39, said the party’s decision in asking Vigneswaran, 41, to step down was uncalled for.

“The norm is to allow the Youth chief to continue his term which expires in 2009, ” he said.

Nanthakumar was the Kulim-Bandar Baru division MIC Youth chief, Ganesan the Merbok division Youth chief, Selvan the Padang Serai division Youth chief and Somasunther the Jerai division Youth chief.