I REFER to your article, "Big role for the minority vote" (Sunday Star, Oct 10).

It is not fair to imply that the Indians are disillusioned with the MIC on several issues, including the South Indian Labour Fund.

In fact, it was the MIC which proposed to activate the fund to further the education of Indians. It was MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu who proposed to dissolve the fund because the property belonging to the fund was neglected and was not beneficial to the community.

The fund's land in Nibong Tebal will now be the site of a technical training institute from which thousands of Indian youths will be trained as skilled workers.

It was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad who explained that we should not politicise the South Indian Fund issue because there are no more South Indians as we are all Malaysians.

In fact, the Indians have always been loyal through the MIC to the Barisan Nasional leadership, and it is this full-hearted support that has played a major role in Barisan Nasional's victory since Merdeka.

It was also through Samy Vellu's effort that all the 40,000 South Indians were made legal foreign workers.

R. RAMALINGAM PILLAI,
President, Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners' Association