MIC national strategy director C Sivaraj said MIC leaders had repeatedly warned Umno about the rising anger within the Indian community, but their warnings were brushed off as ‘minor issues’.
PETALING JAYA: MIC has blamed Umno for the collapse of Barisan Nasional’s Indian support, saying the real cause was decisions made by coalition leader Umno when it led the government.
MIC national strategy director C Sivaraj said a recent letter published by FMT had given a “distorted and incomplete account of political history”.
“The collapse of Indian support for MIC was not due to internal failure, but the direct consequence of decisions, policies and missteps by Umno, which controlled the government and all major institutions,” he said in a statement.
In the letter, former Media Prima news chief Ashraf Abdullah said MIC had become a “liability” as it no longer held Indian support and won only one seat in GE15.
He said the party now depends on Malay-majority seats because it cannot win in areas with a large number of Indian voters.
Ashraf also said MIC’s real membership and ground strength were far smaller than claimed, calling its threat to leave BN “hollow”, and urged MIC to prove its relevance by winning seats on its own.
However, Sivaraj said the drop in support went back to the 2001 Kampung Medan clashes, when many Indians felt “abandoned and unfairly targeted by state agencies under federal control”.
He said Indians became angrier after 2007 over “temple demolitions, unilateral conversions and body-snatching cases” handled by federal and religious bodies “dominated by Umno”.
“The massive Hindraf rally in 2007 was not aimed solely at MIC. It was a direct reaction to an Umno-led government that appeared indifferent to legitimate Indian concerns,” he said.
Sivaraj said MIC leaders had repeatedly warned Umno about the rising anger within the Indian community, but their warnings were brushed off as “minor issues”.
“For decades, MIC remained loyal to BN, sacrificed seats and accepted junior partner status to ensure continued representation for Indians. This loyalty was used, not rewarded.
“The lesson for MIC is clear – never again accept responsibility without real authority. Future partnerships must guarantee MIC genuine policymaking power on matters involving the Indian community.
“MIC was not the architect of BN’s defeat. It was a passenger in a vehicle driven recklessly by others,” he said.
In a separate statement, MIC vice-president T Murugiah hit out at the same FMT letter, saying Ashraf’s analysis was biased and failed to capture MIC’s position today.
He said the party remained one of the oldest and most established with a long record of work in education, skills and welfare, and accused the writer of not including “even a single positive point”.
Murugiah said the letter did not address the real underlying reasons behind MIC’s challenges, especially the political decisions made by Umno and the past BN leadership that affected all component parties.
