V. Manickavasagam

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Seri
V. Manickavasagam
PMN SPMS JMN PJK
Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Seri V. Manickavasagam PMN SPMS JMN PJK
மாணிக்கவாசகம் பிள்ளை
6th President of the Malaysian Indian Congress
	In office; 30 June 1973 – 12 October 1979
Preceded by	V. T. Sambanthan
Succeeded by	Samy Vellu
Personal details
Born	4 October 1926; Klang, Selangor, Federated Malay States, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Died	12 October 1979 (aged 53); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Political party	Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
Occupation	Politician

V. Manickavasagam Pillai (

Minister of Communications. He was a member and served as 6th President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional

(BN) coalition from June 1973 to his death in October 1979.

President of MIC

Manickavasagam became president of MIC as a result of increased resistance of the grassroot members to

Tun V.T. Sambanthan

's style of leadership, who had been president of the party for 18 years.

Under Manickavasagam's leadership, the MIC was put on a strong footing with buildings, offices and staff in various parts of the country and the party system organised and its capacity to deal with issues enhanced.

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, and 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.

Blue Book

Manickavasagam had a vision for the

Malaysian Indian

community. He organised the First Indian Economic Seminar and as a result the Blue Book came about. It was a development plan for the economic growth of the Indian community.

The Blue Book was an orchestrated effort of a think-tank of top Indian business, political and education leaders collaborating to augment the future of the

Malaysian Indian community. Maika Holdings and Maju Institute of Education and Development (MIED) and others are a direct result of the Blue Book.^[1]

Infusing new blood

When Manickavasagam became president of the

S. Subramaniam, K. Pathmanaban

, a Harvard MBA holder, and several others entered the political arena to infuse new blood into MIC, and Manickavasagam gave them preference. They were young, well-educated and ambitious but lacked grassroots experience.

This made

V.T. Sambanthan

and propel Manickavasagam to the presidency of the party.

Subramaniam, then the secretary general of MIC, was hand-picked by Manickavasagam to become deputy president and succeed him. However, Samy Vellu fought back, literally, and in the 1977 party elections he managed to beat Subramaniam by a mere 26 votes to become the Deputy President of MIC.