M. G. Pandithan

Tan Sri M. G. Pandithan (3 April 1940 – 30 April 2008) was a Malaysian Indian politician and the founder president of the Indian Progressive Front.

The party claims to represent the Indian community in Malaysia and was a longtime rival of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) until recently.

Pandithan was formerly an MIC vice-president, Member of Parliament for Tapah and parliamentary secretary to the Trade and Industry Ministry. He died in Kuala Lumpur General Hospital on 30 April 2008 at the age of 68, after suffering from a long bout of leukaemia.

Born on 3 April 1940, Pandithan was the eighth son of a Kuala Lumpur City Hall manual worker and a washerwoman. Pandithan grew up in the cramped government quarters at San Peng flats, an area notorious for crime.

He studied at SJK (T) San Peng and completed his Higher School Certificate at St Anthony's Institute before joining Tamil Nesan as a crime reporter.

It took Pandithan many years to build a career in the Malaysian Indian Congress. He climbed the ranks of the party the hard way like Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, whom he had regarded as his mentor. But after winning a seat in the party's Central Working Committee his climb was rapid.

In 1981, he became party vice-president, commanding strong grassroots support from the Malaysian Indian community. After being re-elected for a third term as vice-president in 1986, he won the Tapah parliamentary seat and was later appointed parliamentary secretary to the Trade and Industry Ministry.

However, he was issued a show cause letter on 2 June 1988, for alleging that the party leadership had failed to fight for the rights of the Malaysian Indian community and for allegedly practising caste-oriented politics. This was when bad blood between MIC president and Samy Vellu and Pandithan took the turn for the worse.

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