I refer to the Malaysiakini report Pressure mounts on Samy to go.

Leaders come and go. A wise leader should know when he should go. Not many leaders have this wisdom though as the desire to remain in power clouds an ambitious person. No matter what, MIC as a political party since should remain intact in the Malaysian political scene. The set up is such that almost every ethnic group in the country is represented by a political party with its own aspiration. This has seen the success of BN for the past 50 years.

Leaders of many other political parties within this set up have made way for younger politicians to take over the leadership and this has been proved to be successful. Only MIC has not done so for quite some time now. It is not that the present MIC has not done much for the Indian community but rationally, looking at the political scenario in the country over the past few years, it is high time that there was a change in the leadership. No matter what, let the leadership exit be done in a graceful manner.

MIC should review its constitution to ensure that all its leaders at the higher level who hold ministerial posts can stay for a maximum of two terms only. MIC should be more pragmatic and work diligently towards creating potential leaders who can take over the leadership at any time but with the same agenda in mind – to help safeguard and uplift the living standards of the Indian community.

Apparently, the incumbent MIC leader at the present has not groomed any charismatic leader to take over the helm. This could be a deliberate move by the incumbent as not to face a potential threat to his throne. Perhaps he has yet to see any capable person that can take over the MIC leadership. If the former is the reason, he may be politically correct but not sincere enough in seeing smooth leadership continuity. If the latter is the motive, then he has failed as a leader as he is too selfish.

The MIC leadership has. to a certain extent lost the political wisdom to handle the current situation and as a result, the Indians are in disarray and disenchanted. Many have no choice but to align themselves with some other political parties or groups even if this shift may not be beneficial for the small Indian community in the country.

The MIC leader has no doubt done a lot to the country and the Indians in general. Of course, he has to accept the fact that he cannot be the leader of the MIC forever. What more can he do for them? If he feels that he has not done enough and has to stay on to do more after over 20 years at the helm, then one would logically presume that he has not done enough. It would be much better if he decides to leave office respectfully when he is at the height of his political career as a minister.

Those at the helm of MIC should now declare a leader who could take over the political mantle and pave a graceful exit path to the present leader. The present leader could always become a mentor or advisor to the many aspiring politicians in MIC.