KUALA SELANGOR: MIC will continue contesting in its traditional state constituent and parliamentary seats in the 14th General Election, said party president Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam.
However, he said the door for discussion remains open if the seat swapping strategy mapped out is beneficial for both MIC and the other Barisan Nasional component party.
"This is provided that the reason for the potential seat exchange between MIC and the other component party is beneficial and no parties will be at the losing end.
"By and large, our principle is still the same. We want to contest in the seats that we did before. If there is any reason, it should be a win-win situation which is good for us and the other party.
"If the other party wants to exchange seats, we can sit and discuss. But it must be agreed upon on a win-win basis, and not in the terms that sacrifices MIC.
"So far, there are no official discussion on seat allocations yet. We will look into it as when the time comes," said Subramaniam, who is also Health Minister.
Subramaniam said this after launching the pilot initiative of the Temple Transformation Centre (TTC) programme at the Sri Thandayuthapani temple in Bestari Jaya, here, today.
The TTC aims to rid off social ills among youngsters and empower the underprivileged such as single mothers and low income groups by transforming temples into community centres.
The TTC, which is part of the seven priority initiatives based on the the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) implementation targets, comes under the purview of the Socio Economic Development of Indian Community (SEDIC).
Subramaniam said five other temples across the country are involved in the pilot initative are given an allocation of RM250,000 each to come up with various education, motivation, cultural and religious classes, skill training as well as empowerment programmes best suited for its respective local communities.
They are the Sri Ganesar temples in Kampung Pandan (Kuala Lumpur) and Kuala Kangsar, Sri Mariamman temple in Sungai Petani, Sri Muniswarar temple in Prai and Sri Subramaniar temple in Masai.
The TTC programme at the Sri Ganesar temple in Kampung Pandan was launched by Senator Datuk Loga Bala Mohan, who is also Federal Territories deputy minister today.
Subramaniam said it hoped that the TTC could be implemented in the 2,500 temples nationwide.
"We hope that it can be also turned into a community centre and strengthened with TTC programmes, we can make a lot of changes for the community. Right now, many temples are centred around religious activities.
"We want to do more to benefit the community such as education for school going children and programmes for single mothers. All these will assist us in transforming the society. We have plans to extend TTC to more temples in the country," said Subramaniam.