Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Maybe this is the way Lord Muruga starts his retribution 🙂 On a more serious note, I wonder who will prevail, SV or the local MIC people. I suspect in the end, some arm-twisting and “presence” will ensure that an outsider will stand in Batu Caves. But whether the people there will vote for the new MIC candidate or snub him…remains to be seen.
Turmoil in MIC Batu Caves over candidate
http://malaysiakini.com/news/78195
K Kabilan | Feb 18, 08 3:38pm
MIC members in Batu Caves are unhappy with the choice of the party’s candidate to contest for the state seat in the coming elections and staged a protest this evening to express their disappointment. Their unhappiness is due to party president S Samy Vellu’s decision to nominate an outside candidate to contest there. The MIC divisions in Batu Caves want a local candidate to represent them.
It is widely tipped that Puchong-based MIC central working committee member T Mohan will replace incumbent V Jagarasah (photo), a two-term representative. The party is expected to make an official announcement on its candidates by Thursday.
However, the local divisions here want MIC Gombak division chief G Jayakumar to be named as the party’s choice. A division leader from Batu Caves told Malaysiakini today that several of them visited Samy Vellu this morning to appeal for Jayakumar to be nominated instead of an outside candidate.”Samy Vellu however told us off and asked us to support his nominee, whom he said would be Mohan,” said the division leader, who wished to remain anonymous. “He said Mohan was the best candidate for the seat. In fact he warned us that if we don’t support his candidate, he would just give the seat to Umno,” he added.
The local choice
He also said that Samy Vellu told them that he did not think any local MIC candidate would be able to retain the seat. The local leaders however dispute this, saying that Jayakumar is capable and has the support of the grassroots as well as other BN parties in the constituency. Jayakumar, a 53-year-old businessman and a party member for more than 30 years, refused to comment when contacted. He, however, said that he was disappointed that a local was not chosen.
A branch chairperson from Batu Caves said that the local party leadership wanted a local candidate as they felt that an outside candidate “would act prejudicially against us”. “Look at Jagarasah. He is from Tanjung Karang and all his staff were outsiders as well. He did not employ a single local MIC person to his team. How can they know about the historical shortcomings and issues in this area?” he asked.
The Batu Caves MIC rank and file have not given up their hope in getting Samy Vellu to change his mind. They are hoping to send a strong message to the president via the protest which was held at Taman Laksamana Jaya in Batu Caves. “The president can still make a change. He has not given the list to the Barisan Nasional chairperson. He must be willing to listen to us. We know what’s best for us,” added the local division leader.
‘I’ll do my best’
Contacted later, Mohan, 34, who is also the MIC Youth social and welfare bureau chief, said that he has not been officially informed of his candidacy in Batu Caves. “If it is true that I have been named as a candidate in Batu Caves, I will then give my best to bring about tremendous changes in the area,” he said. He also said that he did not see it as an issue for the party to place outside candidates to contest in any particular constituencies. “I think the party makes a decision based on who is the most suitable candidate and see if the candidate is a good leader,” he said. “Let’s not get too personal with this. We will have to share the workload,” added Mohan who has been widely seen as an upcoming leader with good ground support within the party.
Batu Caves holds a close affiliation with MIC as the area has provided many leaders for the party, including former vice president V Govindaraju. In fact Samy Vellu is a member of the Batu Caves branch. In the 2004 elections, Jagarasah defeated PKR’s Kamarul Baharin Abas with a majority of 1,781 votes. In 1999, he beat PKR’s Razali Ismail by 449 votes. The Batu Caves seat – with a total of 17,238 voters – falls under the Umno-held Gombak parliamentary seat. Batu Caves is a predominantly Malay majority seat (59.5%) with Chinese making up of 16.2 percent and Indians 23.6 percent.
While MIC is expected to face a tough fight this time around due to discontent among the Indian community, it still believes that it will retain the seat with a smaller majority.
