John Thivy and Indian nationalism

John Thivy, the founder of the MIC, met Mahatma Gandhi at London while studying law. He was inspired by Gandhi's ideology and Nehru's vision and became determined to fight for Indian independence. He became actively involved in the Indian nationalist movement and returned to Malaya.^[1] He founded the Malaya Indian Congress (renamed Malaysian Indian Congress after the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963) in August 1946, and was party president until 1947. The word 'Congress' in the party's name refers to the Indian National Congress, the party Mahatma Gandhi led to fight for Indian independence.

Baba Budh Singh Ji, Ramanathan, and opposition to the Malayan Union

After India gained independence in 1947, the MIC changed its focus and started to fight for the independence of Malaya.^[2] Baba Budh Singh Ji became president of MIC in 1947. After World War II, the British had established the Malayan Union, unifying the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Although a majority of the Indian community supported the Malayan Union, the MIC did not.^[3] The Malayan Union was dissolved in 1948 after widespread Malay protests and replaced with the Federation of Malaya.^[4] The MIC later joined the All-Malaya Council of Joint Action under Tun Tan Cheng Lock in opposition to the Federation of Malaya Agreement.

K. Ramanathan became president in 1950. By this time, the MIC was the leading party representing Indians in Malaya.^[5] Ramanathan advocated for the relaxation of the language proficiency test as a prerequisite for citizenship for Indians, and urged Indians to obtain federal citizenship.^[6]

K.L. Devaser and a focus on Malayan independence

The MIC's fourth President, Kundan Lal Devaser, served from 1951 to 1955. It was during his period that MIC started to focus on the fight for Malayan independence.^[7]

Under Devaser, the MIC contested the 1952 Kuala Lumpur Municipal Elections in alliance with the Independence of Malaya Party, Dato' Onn bin Jaafar and other non-communal organisations. The election ended with a failure for MIC as their coalition was defeated by the Alliance Party. The defeat showed MIC that it stood a better chance of gaining influence by joining the Alliance. In 1954 the MIC joined the United Malays National Organisation and the Malayan Chinese Association in the Alliance, securing a place for Indians in the administration.^[6] The party's broader membership was less enthusiastic than the MIC leadership about joining the Alliance but were willing to support the move if the party could secure concessions from the Alliance on inter-communal issues, particularly on education.^[8]

Devaser was primarily popular among the urban-based Indian elite, and lacked wider grassroots support. For the first eight years, MIC leaders were either of North Indian or Malayalee origin, a minority among Malayan Indians. The majority of Indians in Malaya at that time were Tamils, most of whom were labourers in plantations. Indian plantation workers experienced enforced segregation because of plantation compound housing. The plantation labour system also worked against the integration of Indian workers into society and perpetuated racial and occupational differentiation. Plantation workers were unable to acquire the skills required to move to better-paying jobs.

Migrant plantation workers were both marginalised and polarised in Malaya. Their wages were tied to rubber prices, falling when the rubber price fell, and were about 50c per day. Devaser came under heavy criticism from the Tamil media for not addressing the pressing issues facing the community. Some in the party felt that there was a need for a leader with a stronger relationship with the party's grassroots. In March 1955, the local daily Tamil Murasu urged Tamils to boycott the MIC.^[9] This was followed by a call for change in MIC's leadership, led by Tamil MIC leaders, and Devaser stepped down.^[6] The MIC then faced the challenge of reconciling the political aspirations of the middle class with the needs of the working class, who at the time comprised 84% of the plantation workforce.

V. T Sambanthan and becoming a Tamil party

In May 1955, Tun V. T. Sambanthan was elected as the fifth President of the Malayan Indian Congress. Sambanthan started a recruitment campaign among plantation workers, relying on the patronage of Hinduism in its popular South Indian form, increased use of the Tamil language, and encouraging Tamil cultural activities. He personally toured plantations and encouraged Tamils to join the MIC.^[6] This led to a fragmentation of the Indian community, with traditionalists and the lower middle class becoming prominent in the party while upper-class professionals and the intelligentsia moved away from it. Two paths to leadership emerged in the Indian community, via politics or via trade union activism, with very little interaction between them.

Under Sambanthan's leadership, the MIC effectively became a Tamil party. Sambanthan served as president of the MIC until 1971 and was largely responsible for the transformation of the party to a conservative and traditionalist party emphasising Indian culture, religion and language. It was the weakest of the three main political parties, with the smallest electorate (7.4% in 1959) and had little support from the Indian community at large.

The Indian community was geographically dispersed and divided and comprised less than 25% of the population in any constituency. The MIC's overriding concern was therefore to remain a partner in the Alliance and obtain whatever concessions it could from the dominant UMNO. This led the MIC to compromise on priorities such as the political and economic rights of workers.^[10]

Sambanthan sold approximately half of his father's 2.4 km² rubber estate and donated part of the money to the MIC. He was not uniformly popular but was able to gradually unite a party that had significant internal divides. During his presidency, in 1957, Malaysian independence was achieved. Sambanathan was involved in the negotiations with the British government's Reid Commission to draw up the new Malayan constitution. In 1963 Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak merged with the Federation of Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia, and the MIC renamed itself the Malaysian Indian Congress.

Sambanathan was forced to retire in favour of V. Manickavasagam in 1973 after a rebellion by five MIC leaders including Samy Vellu.

Manickavasagam and non-political ventures

Manickavasagam served as president of MIC from 1973 to 1978. During this period, Malaysia's New Economic Policy was being developed, and the MIC convened two economic conferences in an unsuccessful effort to advocate for the interests of Indians.^[11]

It was during this period that the MIC, as member of the Alliance, became part of the Barisan Nasional. The party sponsored the Nesa Multipurpose Cooperative and the MIC Unit Trust as part of its programme for economic ventures. It also set up the MIC Education Fund for members' children and the Malaysian Indian Scholarship Fund for higher education as well as acquiring an Institute for training Indians in technical and trade skills.

Manickavasagam appointed several new representatives to leadership positions, including Subramaniam Sathasivam, Datuk K. Pathmanaban, a Harvard MBA holder, and several others. They were young, well-educated and ambitious but lacked grassroots experience. Subramaniam was hand-picked by Manickavasagam to become deputy president and succeed him, but the party elected Samy Vellu as Deputy President instead, by a narrow margin of 26 votes.

Samy Vellu and emphasis on education

Samy Vellu became MIC president in 1979 and served until 2010. Under his leadership, in 1984, the MIC founded the Maju Institute of Education Development (MIED) to offer educational opportunities and financial support to Indian students in Malaysia.^[12] Since its establishment, more than 10,000 students have obtained loans and scholarships totaling about RM60 million MIED fund as of 2013.^[13] In 2001, the MIC and MIED launched an AIMST University with the stated goal of helping Indians acquire professional training. Vellu was the founding chancellor of the university. By 2018, the university had achieved a score of 4 on the Malaysian Higher Education Institution's 5-point rating scale.^[14] However, AIMST's commitment to training Indian students has been questioned.^[15]

Vellu was succeeded by G. Palanivel who served from 2010 to 2014. Subramaniam was then elected, initially in an acting role, serving from 2014 to 2018. As of 2019, the party is led by Vigneswaran Sanasee.

Presidents of the Malayan Indian Congress (1946–1963)

Presidents of the Malaysian Indian Congress (1963–present)

Dewan Negara (Senate)

Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)

Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament

Main article: Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 15th Malaysian Parliament

As of 2019, MIC has only 1 MP in the House of Representatives.

State	No.	Parliament Constituency	Member	Party
Perak	P072	Tapah	M. Saravanan Murugan		MIC
Total	Perak (1)

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Malaysian State Assembly Representatives

Main article: List of Malaysian State Assembly Representatives (2018–)

Johor State Legislative Assembly 3 / 56 Malacca State Legislative Assembly 1 / 28 Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly 0 / 36 Perlis State Legislative Assembly 0 / 15

Kedah State Legislative Assembly 0 / 36 Kelantan State Legislative Assembly 0 / 45 Terengganu State Legislative Assembly 0 / 33

Penang State Legislative Assembly 0 / 40 Perak State Legislative Assembly 0 / 59 Pahang State Legislative Assembly 1 / 42

Selangor State Legislative Assembly 0 / 56 Sabah State Legislative Assembly 0 / 73 Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 0 / 82

State	No.	Federal Constituency	No.	State Constituency	Member	Party
Pahang	P089	Bentong	N35	Sabai	V Arumugam		MIC
Malacca	P135	Alor Gajah	N7	Gadek	Shanmugam Ptcyhay		MIC
Johor	P151	Sekijang	N4	Kemelah	Saraswathy Nallathanby		MIC
	P153	Sembrong	N31	Kahang	Vidyananthan Ramanadhan		MIC
	P154	Mersing	N33	Tenggaroh	Raven Kumar Krishnasamy		MIC
Total	Pahang (1), Malacca (1), Johor (3)