KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president Datuk G Palanivel completed his 100 days in office today with sheer determination

to strengthen the party, improve quality of education and serve the people. While there are many things that need to be given attention, my immediate priorities have been in these three areas that are not only extremely important to the Indian community, but also to MIC and BN, he said. The 62-year-old, who took over from his predecessor Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu on Dec 6 last year, hopes to redefine the party and adopt a new and holistic approach that will involve the Indian community as a whole. We want to include every Indian, from all walks of life and unless and until MIC is inclusive and has a collective voice, we cannot deliver competently on the expectations.

We are genuine in responding to the wake-up call made by the people and are committed to overcoming the inefficiencies and the lack of drive and prepared to do what it takes to serve the people, he said. He added that the party receives a huge support from other BN component parties and to work together to Malaysia a great country. How can the country progress or improve when a substantial portion of its people are not improving in line with the country's development markers Palanivel also joked about his 100 days in office calling himself a non trend-setter. It is interesting to note that while I am not a trend-setter, it seems that I have to come to terms with a trend that people in public positions are faced with the prospects of sharing their first 100 days in office. It didn't cross my mind in the past three months or given much thought to how I should project myself to everyone, simply because I haven't had the time to do so... but it seems that this is one area I have to give in and join the trend!, he said. Jokes aside, the senator has his hands full now with challenging tasks at hand of ensuring that MIC becomes a powerful voter based Indian party. We are working round the clock to ensure that every member becomes a voter and also as many Indians as possible become members of the party. Our initial target is to turn MIC into a 700,000 voter based party. We want all party members to be localised in their respective parliamentary constitution to ensure better delivery to the people, he said. On education, Palanivel hopes to focus on increasing the percentage of passes at the UPSR level.

Based on my observation, by the time a child reaches 11 or 12 years old, we have lost him. These children must be rescued and we hope to catch them young, maybe as early as Year 1 as they need to be guided to achieve the best they can, he said adding that with proper attention, guidance and tools the success rate of these students in schools can be achieved at any level. An advocate of early childhood education, Palanivel has been involved in the running of kindergartens in several rural areas under the Community Builders Foundation (CBF) for several years and the first few was initialised when he was the deputy minister in the Rural Development Ministry. More kindergartens have come now under the CBF purview and the newer task is look for children missing out on early childhood or kindergarten education and bring them into the fold of a more formalised early education curriculum. This is to prepare them adequately for primary school. The tasks will involve MIC, Yayasan Social Strategic Foundation and other NGO volunteers to work closely to look for children who need help and train teachers to be involved in the programme, he said. He also will place emphasis on youth development, upgrade women participation in politics, business and other fields, financial and welfare assistance, and working on various projects for to boost economic mobility or deal with social problems that continue to plague the community despite the best efforts of many government initiatives. We want to develop democracy and give a voice to the party's working committee members, the state leaders, the branch leaders and the members. Our ultimate objective is to ensure that MIC becomes a party for the community and has a strong representative voice. We must become One Party, One Voice in line with the 1Malaysia concept, he said.