A camel, as they say, is a horse designed by a committee. Well, God knows there are enough camels running loose here as it is. But it looks like one more woolly hump will be joining us soon.

A national English newspaper reported on Sunday that the MIC president wants the captains of his party to conduct a "comprehensive survey" on Indian illegal squatters. He wants to identify the basic needs of the squatters so that they could be met. Of course, the matter is considered to be one with much urgency.

Now, I understand the role of research as the bedrock for the execution of organisational strategies. But there is a big difference between necessary research and dumb, time-wasting acts designed ostensibly to appease an audience (this is just my humble opinion).

There are two things we need to bear in mind. One, undertaking a national survey will require a not-insignificant amount of money. Two, it will likely take longer than an elephantine pregnancy to deliver.

Money and energy that, I'd hasten to add, could be better used to serve the very thing that the finished document purports to do.

Since it is highly unlikely that the good minister will fund this job out of his own pocket, we have to assume that either public or party funds will be used. In which case it becomes our duty to ask if such a waste of resources is truly warranted.

In the first place, one would have to wonder: Why is it that after all these years the MIC - who likes to pride itself as the champion of the Indians in Malaysia - do not have the answers readily at hand?

The Indian community, after all, comprises only about 10 percent of the Malaysian population. More than a few of them - as the MIC itself has admitted in the past - have been living in abject poverty for so long.

Ergo, a small community with a condition that has remained unchanged for decades. One would reasonably expect any self-proclaimed champion of such a community to know any issue related to it better than a seasoned taxi driver knows the back alleys of Old Klang Road.

Not to mention that it is simply mind-boggling that you need to even ask poor people what their basic needs might be! What comedy!

Could it really be so hard to guess? Well, hey, I don't know about you, but if I were downright poor, a Mercedes Benz in the driveway would be a long way from my mind!

The MIC president, in fact, has spelt it out himself. The same article quoted him as saying that during his visit to Kampung Penaga Baru, he found there were no proper roads, street lamps or drainage systems. These, he said, will be provided soon.

Bingo! He asks the questions and supplies the answers, all in one paragraph. So why, then, is there a need to waste further time and money? Why the desire to hide behind the anonymous decision of yet another faceless committee?

This, to me, is ultimately what the latest announcement reeks of: The lack of courage to admit fallibility. It also smacks of a feeble attempt to deflect any criticism that may be lobbed at the leader of a community who really should have known better.

To be sure, the steadfast refusal to take responsibility for just about anything is a stubborn disease that afflicts most of our nation's leaders.

They always have one excuse or another to evade admitting the fact that they had failed. Some people call it political rhetoric. I call it cowardice.

So to them, all I have to say is this: Try having some balls for a change. Figuratively speaking, you look ugly naked without them, trust me.