KUALA LUMPUR - SATURDAY'S Tamil Nesan had a massive pullout for birthday boy Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu with back-to-back coverage and full-page live-size photographs of him taken out by all 28 Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) candidates, hailing their chief as the greatest man ever born.

The surreal coverage was in stark contrast to the ugly mood among Indians who had already 'told' Samy Vellu that his time was up - through the Nov 25 protest and the boycott of Batu Caves during Thaipusam - and were waiting to say it again through the ballot box.

It was Samy Vellu's final swan song. Except for Dr S. Subramaniam , S. Saravanan and K. Devamani, the other MIC candidates were all wiped out in an unprecedented wave of anger, opening up a new era in politics for Indians.

With most of the MIC bigwigs wiped out, the internal power equation in the party has gone haywire and only time will tell how it is going to unravel.

After such a beating it is also inconceivable that Samy Vellu should continue as party president. Sadly, he does not have a winner in a number two or three to hand over the party to.

The vice-presidents, until press time, appear to have been defeated as well, leaving the MIC leadership in shambles. It will take a long time for the mess to be sorted out.

The MIC representation in the Cabinet and the administration is also in question now that Samy Vellu, the sole Indian minister for 29 years, has been defeated. Who is the winner or loser? Who will to take his place in the Cabinet?

Indian voters form significant numbers in at least 67 parliamentary and 141 state assembly seats where they comprise between 9 per cent and 46 per cent of the electorate.

The results across the country indicate they had used their numbers to vote Opposition and helped change the direction of politics in the country.

They were the deciding factor in constituencies where Malay and Chinese votes divided. Indians who traditionally backed the Government made their small numbers count.

Twenty-two Indians contested in 18 parliamentary seats and 53 Indians contested in 40 seats. They comprised about 8 per cent of contestants.

MIC fielded nine for Parliament and 19 for the state assemblies. The DAP had seven Indians for Parliament and 17 for state while PKR fielded 19 Indians.

In Parliament and the state assemblies, there will be about 20 Indians from the DAP and PKR and all will be sitting on the opposition bench. Previously, in the entire country there were only two Indian MPs - Karpal Singh and M. Kulasegaran - holding the fort.

It is going to be a lively Parliament and Opposition Indian MPs are going to fall over each other to voice Indian woes.

The results are a victory for Makkal Shakti, the force unleashed by Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar on Nov 25, which ballooned into a formidable Indian movement to carry away so many MIC leaders.

The larger question is of course Indian representation in the government, which would be lesser with so many casualties. The government will have to find new ways to fill the vacancies and not just promote losers into senators and then ministers.

Because of the defeat in some states, Indian representation is nil, making it a challenging task for the Barisan Nasional power-sharing formula to work. - The Star/ANN.

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