MIC not resting on laurels, working hard to regain support: Vigneswaran

BUTTERWORTH – MIC is not resting on its laurels though it is part of the Madani unity government, said its president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran.

Instead, the party is working hard to regain support to be a better representative of the Indian community, the former Dewan Negara speaker said, as speculations swirl that the party may get up to three slots in the revised cabinet line-up.

Citing examples of good work, Vigneswaran said that there are plans to set up an AIMST University teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

AIMST’s main campus in Bedong, Kedah, is known for its affordable accredited health science courses that are recognised by professional bodies like the Malaysian Medical Council and by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA).

The private but heavily subsidised university was established by the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), the educational arm of MIC.

The other is strengthening the party from the bottom up, where Vigneswaran urged branches to toe the party line and to strengthen its grassroots’ presence.

“We don’t want branches with chairmen and its members from other areas as they will not be able to effectively serve the community. These people would not be able to garner the support from locals if they are not from the same locality. To overcome this, we have decided that branches must have the required quorum when they hold their annual general meetings.”

In Penang, there are 195 branches, of which 178 met the requirements this year.

The affected branches were given a chance to have another meeting to meet the quorum for their meeting, said the party president when opening the 77th Penang MIC state convention here.

A strong and effective branch would complement the division, state and national leadership, said Vigneswaran.

“We have enough resources for MIC to help the community.”

MIC also has plans for a new headquarters building in Kuala Lumpur, said Vigneswaran while AIMST is faring well with a full intake for the medicine, dentistry and engineering fields in the last academic intake.

“I urge members to encourage their children to study in AIMST rather than applying for a loan to study in other universities. We have provided places for 26 students who had obtained 4As but were unable to get a place in government universities to do medicine.”

A team headed by former MIC deputy president Datuk S. K. Devamany has visited Indian colleges and universities while another team would be visiting Europe and the United Kingdom to look into providing educational programmes under a tie-up.

Earlier, state MIC chairman Datuk J Dhinagaran praised the MIC president for his far-sighted leadership decisions in collaborating with the federal unity government.

He said that DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng also complimented MIC and this had resulted in a smooth relationship with the Pakatan Harapan-led state government here. – The Vibes, October 14, 2023