MIC, a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN), could follow MCA’s move in charting its own path if any other party in the four-member coalition decided to leave, said party leaders. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, certain MIC leaders suggested that a clearer stand would be made at the party’s annual general assembly next month. 

“You have to wait for our annual general meeting on November 18,” a leader said. 

Neither MIC nor MCA are represented in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet as Umno had taken up all the seats allotted to BN.  

Over the weekend, MCA president Wee Ka Siong said his party was ready to go solo should BN’s component parties form new partnerships and abandon its coalition members. 

The former transport minister said the shifting political landscape following the 2022 general election had altered the situation.  

BN has four components – Umno, MCA, MIC, and United Sabah People’s Party (PBRS). In the last general election (GE15), BN only won 30 seats, of which 26 were won by Umno, followed by MCA (2) and one each by MIC and PBRS. 

Umno and BN had then decided to join forces with Pakatan Harapan to form the unity government. 

Meanwhile, MIC president S. A. Vigneswaran said, “there is no consideration for such a thing at the moment”. 

A senior party leader, who did not wish to be named, said the president did not give a definite answer, hinting that anything could happen. 

“Note the point. The president responded to you by saying ‘no consideration at the moment’. 

“Which means, there might be possibilities in the future. We have to wait and see,” he said. 

The party leader added that Vigneswaran had been saying in his state convention speeches that the party would decide its path before the next general election.   

“Currently, the president has been saying that MIC is looking at potential seats for the next federal polls and that the party would consider working with those who are willing to accommodate MIC’s requests,” he said. 

Last week, Vigneswaran said MIC was looking at suitable seats to contest in the next general election. 

He added that the party was in the process of strengthening its grassroots and making sure that existing members were truly committed to the party. 

Prior to the six state elections, Vigneswaran said he feared that the party would be totally sidelined in the next general election, leaving it with only one federal seat to defend.

He said this was based on the seat negotiations between Umno/BN and PH then.  

MIC’s sole parliamentarian is Tapah’s M. Saravanan. The party holds five state seats: Three in Johor (Kahang, Tenggaroh, and Kemelah) and one each in Malacca (Gadek) and Pahang (Sabai). – October 25, 2023.