Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Obviously, of the three by-elections around the corner, Bukit Selambau in Kedah is of interest to the Indian community. The by-election in Perak is critical for BN to fortify its claim on the state government while a win for Pakatan will be seen as rejection of BN’s coup. In Sarawak, the by-election will be a test of the inroads made by Pakatan Rakyat. A loss would mean that Pakatan have to double their effort, while a loss for BN would be damaging as East Malaysia support for BN is crucial to maintain the majority in federal government. The thought of Sarawak (or Sabah for the matter) possibly falling into Pakatan Rakyat’s hand will be causing nightmare for BN leaders.
Back to Bukit Selambau. This particular by-election may be creating a history of sorts if all those who paid the deposits actually contested. That would mean 9 independent candidates, and one each from BN and Pakatan. 11 candidates!
Of the 9 independents who have paid the RM8ooo deposit, 4 are Indians:
1. former Kedah PPP Wanita chief L. Sarala, 34
2. businessman T. Chandrarajan, 40
3. contractor R. Loganathan, 43
4. A. Jayagopal, 57
The others are 4 Malays and one Chinese.
BN’s candidate is Datuk S Ganesan, while Pakatan’s choice is a novice, S Manikumar (who will be paying his deposit on nomination day today). A bit of info on Ganesan:
“I was born at the Sungai Division Estate here and spent my school years here. As I was born here, I believe that I will get strong support from the local people.
“I have a law firm in Sungai Petani where my wife, R. Vatsala manages the practice,” he said.
Ganesan, who has four children, joined MIC in 1983 and was appointed as the state deputy MIC chairman in 2002.
He contested and won the Lunas state seat in the 2004 general election. He did not contest in March 8, 2008 election.
35 year old Manikumar’s background:
Manikumar, who has been an ordinary party member since 2007, said that he would be representing all races as the candidate for PKR.
Manikumar, a business degree holder from UUM, is a car dealer in Sungai Pasir, Padang Temesu, located within Bukit Selambau. He is also a resident of Bukit Selambau.
It seems he also holds an MBA.
Manikumar, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in tourism management and a Master’s degree in business administration, both from Universiti Utara Malaysia, is an ordinary member of PKR’s Merbok division.
Manikumar, who is married to a teacher and has a 6-year-old son, has worked as a marketing consultant for several companies in Thailand and Tanzania and done a stint in oil palm and vehicle trading.
“Manikumar is a local boy who lives in Taman Ria Jaya here. He obtained a degree in tourism management in 1999 and a Masters in Business Administration from Universiti Utara Malaysia in 2005.
The Star provided some details as well:
“He is a committee member in the Kedah Indian Chamber of Commerce, a consultant for companies in Thailand and Tanzania, as well as an experienced trader of oil palm and vehicles,” Anwar said yesterday as he introduced Manikumar to a crowd of about 500 at Yayasan Aman, a PKR operations centre in Sungai Lalang, near here.
Anwar also said that Manikumar was proficient in four languages: Bahasa Melayu, English, Tamil and Spanish.
Manikumar, who is married to a secondary school teacher and has a six-year-old daughter, has been a party member for two years.
I don’t think knowing Spanish would help Manikumar in Bukit Selambau.
The plot is thickened with unhappiness over Pakatan’s choice of candidate. Hindraf, local Indians, and even certain quarters in PKR itself are not satisfied. Hindraf, it seems, planned to put up either Thanenthiran, lawyer Surendran, or ISA detainee Vasantha Kumar as a candidate:
Makkal Sakthi coordinator R. Kannan said they were disappointed as several names proposed by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) had not been considered.
He said Hindraf chairperson P. Waythamoorthy had urged Anwar to consider Makkal Sakthi coordinator S. Thanenthiran, lawyer R. Surendran or Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Vasantha Kumar.
“We wanted our voice heard in the Government. This is the first time we had made such a request,” he said when contacted.
“We will not boycott the by-election but our involvement will be far less than in the March 2008 general election,” he said.
In fact, PKR’s shortlisted candidates list of three did not include Manikumar. The three were Sungai Petani PKR division member Dr R Krishnamoorthy, the division’s committee member S Sritharan and Merbok division committee member and Sungai Petani municipal councillor K Masilamani.
Seems that it was the previous assemblyman, Arumugam (who quit) has strongly suggested Manikumar:
A source close to the party said that Manikumar was a close associate of Arumugam.
“Arumugam met Anwar recently and managed to convince him that his candidate would be able to win the seat and do a good job as an elected representative,” said the source.
The source also said Manikumar would be an ideal choice as the state executive councillor, replacing Arumugam.
Arumugam, who still yields wide influence in Bukit Selambau, has also said that he would be campaigning for Manikumar, added the source.
During announcement of Manikumar, there were protests from the audience – signs of a problem brewing:
Shortly after the de facto PKR leader made the announcement, a group of about 20 men, many wearing vests with the PKR logo, cried foul.
A few of them claimed Manikumar, 35, whom Anwar had said was the best candidate among the 15 shortlisted, was an “outsider” and a “parachute candidate”.
One of them said he had been in Merbok and Sungai Petani for many years but had never heard of Manikumar.
One man threatened to campaign for independent candidates if Anwar did not replace Manikumar with one Dr R. Khrisnamoorthy, the group’s choice as candidate for PKR.
On seeing the commotion outside the double-storey PKR office in Bedong near here, Padang Serai MP and PKR supreme council member N. Gobalakrishnan approached the group.
Gobalakrishnan took a few of the dissatisfied PKR supporters into the office, presumably to meet Anwar, who had stayed back after seeing off Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak.
A large number of the 1,000-plus crowd who had gathered earlier to hear the naming of the candidate, hung around for further news.
Finally, after almost two hours, Anwar came out and assured the crowd that all was well. He was then quickly ushered to a waiting car.
Moments later, Manikumar came out.
All he said before being driven off was that he was thankful he had been chosen as the “calon yang sah” (legitimate candidate).
Asked what the dissatisfied group would do next, a member, who identified himself as Santhagunan, said: “Wait for March 29 (nomination day).”
“Who is Manikumar? We have never seen him in this area. He was never present for any community events or struggles,” said Paya Besar, Kulim social service centre head YP Baskaran.
In fact some of these leaders are also questioning Manikumar’s credibility as a clean candidate.
“There are some serious issues concerning his business dealings as a car dealer. Many people have complained to us about this,” said Hindraf national coordinator RS Thanenthiren.
“We want Anwar to reconsider his choice. We give him until today evening to make a decision on this matter. If he wants to stick with Manikumar, then I think it is a mistake which Pakatan will regret later,” he told Malaysiakini.
Thanenthiren said that most of the Indian voters in Bukit Selambau were Hindraf supporters and this was proven during the last general election last March when they worked hard to vote in V Arumugam, who was an independent candidate.“The Hindraf supporters here worked very hard in ensuring that Arumugam won. They made sure that MIC which was traditionally strong here would not have it easy.
“And now they are disappointed that their efforts had not been recognised by Anwar in not naming a candidate who is close to them and the movement,” he added.
“Anwar must realise that the candidate he picks will be made an exco member, representing the Indians not just in Bukit Selambau but also in the whole of Kedah,” added Thanenthiren.
While Thanenthiren was among those promoted by the local Hindraf leaders as the candidate, he however said what was important was to have a candidate who was accepted by the local voters.
“It is only wise that Anwar picked someone who is well known to the people and can actually serve the community,” he said.
It must be noted that Thanenthiren wields some influence among the Indians here in Kedah, especially in Bukit Selambau, in his capacity as the national coordinator of Hindraf.
Other community leaders are also upset with Anwar for not consulting them on the choice of candidate.
They are also claiming that the PKR chief had not consulted local PKR leaders from the community.
“There are so many other capable candidates in PKR. If not them, there are also some local Hindraf leaders. If they were unsuitable, Anwar could have chosen someone capable from DAP, or even an Indian representative from PAS,” said Kedah Makkal Sakthi (people power) coordinator R Ramu.
Some of these leaders also doubt Manikumar’s two-year-old membership in PKR.
“Anwar will have to reconsider his choice. Otherwise, it will be difficult for PKR to win this seat without the Indian votes,” added another local community leader.
Worse still,Malaysiakini reported that several local Indian community leaders from PKR have already closed down their election operation centres across Bukit Selambau and that a local PKR leader said it would not be a surprise if PKR local leaders and members campaigned for independent candidates during the by-election.
This boosts MIC Ganesan’s chances significantly.
Samy Vellu highlighted the fact that by choosing BN candidate, Bukit Selambau folks will have a chance of getting more allocation from the federal government (not sure if that’s a threat or bribery). Its hypothetical of course, and I guess progress in last 50 years would provide sufficient proof on how much allocation was given to Bukit Selambau by the federal and state governments. It would be grossly unfair to evaluate one year against 50. Of more interest is how much of the promises made by the previous candidate has been fulfilled and his track record for the last 11 months. Then, one has to decide if the failure (if there’s any) of the previous assemblyman a reflection of the state government’s failure or ineptitude. Following that, would a change of candidate from the same party bring forth changes? Or should one change the party altogether?
Thus this will be an interesting by-election for the Indians. Who would they vote for? MIC’s Dr S Subra claims that the Indians are “coming back” to BN while MIC Youth political bureau head V. Mugilan says Ganesan had better chance of winning now compared to last year’s general elections.
Indian voters in Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang are “coming back” to Barisan Nasional, claims MIC secretary-general Datuk S. Subramaniam.
This was based on feedback from visits to Indian areas in the two constituencies over the past two weeks, he told reporters after visiting the MIC operations centre here late on Thurs-day.
Dr Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resources Minister, said such a scenario was not so evident during the last general election, when the MIC lost six of its nine parliamentary and 12 of its 19 state seats.
“We see a change in their attitude because they know only the MIC can assist them during good and bad times,” he said.
He said that in Bukit Gantang where Indians accounted for almost 10% of the electorate, problems such as the lack of good infrastructure in Tamil schools were resolved long before the by-elections were called.
“We don’t embark on problem-solving only when there are elections, we have been doing this all the while,” he said.
In Kuala Lumpur, MIC Youth political bureau head V. Mugilan said the wing had started mobilising its members to campaign for the Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang by-elections.
He added that Barisan candidates had a better chance of winning compared with the last general election.
“People now realise they were taken in by sweet promises that were not fulfilled, after a year of Pakatan Rakyat rule in the two states (Kedah and Perak),” he told a press conference at the MIC headquarters yesterday.
BN are not taking any chances, and the Star reported that MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu (probably due to MIED-AIMST accounts), Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin and former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Khir Toyo have been advised not to campaign in this constituency where the percentage of Malay and non-Malay voters are almost equal.
However, Samy was in Bukit Selambau earlier, and reported positively:
“Both sides (MIC and the Indian community) have been engaged in open and frank discussions for the past two weeks, and we have managed to thrash out many differences,” he said in a statement today.
He said MIC wanted to hear the views and feelings of the Indian community in Bukit Selambau in relations to various issues, including the death of suspected car thief, Kugan Ananthan while in police custody.
“We have explained to them that the matter is currently being investigated and if there is a case, the police have said that the culprit will be charged in court,” he said.
Samy Vellu said he had ‘camped’ in Bukit Selambau for the last two weeks to oversee MIC’s election preparations and was happy with the cooperation extended by all Barisan Nasional component parties in the constituency.
The MIC president said he had personally gone to opposition-controlled areas in Bukit Selambau to ‘neutralise the lies’ being spread by certain quarters about the federal government and BN.
“There are between 13 to 15 areas which according to our survey are hotspots, and we have embarked on door-to-door campaign to meet the voters.
“They (the Indian voters) have become friendly to us (MIC) because they felt that the previous assemblyperson from the opposition had neglected them,” he said.
Samy Vellu said they have also accepted Ganesan who has been moving with the MIC chief in his campaign trail.
“The Malay and Chinese voters have also accepted him because he has the experience being the former assemblyperson of Lunas (Kedah) and a lawyer by profession. His smile and pleasant face is also wooing the crowd,” he said.
“I will continue to visit Bukit selambau until the by-election is over.
I think BN has a good chance. The Indians’ vote will be split among the Indian independent candidates while the Malay votes may be split among the Malay independent candidates. The Chinese will go for Pakatan if BN doesn’t do anything beneficial in the next few days.
My question is, if HINDRAF was successful in the sense that it awakened the Indian community, why do we have four Indian independent candidates? Why not four of them sit down together and choose one among themselves to stand for elections? Does it mean some of the four are planted by either BN or Pakatan? Or all four are unable to work together for the benefit of greater good?
Whatever it is, I think the Bukit Selambau fiasco is an indication of the failure to cooperate among the community. If Manikumar wins, it means HINDRAF’s voice is becoming irrelevant. If he loses, Pakatan pays for not listening to HINDRAF and its own leaders. BN, by playing its cards right, can win Bukit Selambau.
the last thing indian wanna hear is SV’s advices . He has been talking such crap (‘threatening’) for decades …..
simple advice to indians in bukit selambau , when you see SV there ask him about maika and the recent mied scandals ……. he will run off….
This by-election is very significant for Indians for several reasons. One, this represents a complete “divorce” between Hindraf and PR. There is an open war between the groups. The sad part is many Indians who were “fighting” for Hindraf now are fightiting against them. This clearly support my often quoted claim that some of the Indians used Hindraf to get the Indian votes. There are some people here like Satyr, VJ and others are openly supporting Mani Kumar and condeming Hindraf…so their true color is finally showing.
There is so much anger among Indians that I worry Mani Kumar might be bashed up (like SV was threatened during last GE). This is such a turnaround of the events. People tell me that Mani Kumar is only campaigning in Chinese and PAS supporters area fearing his safety. It is not just that Hindraf supporters are angry, even many PKR Malay and Indian members are angry.
Mani kumar has such a poor reputation. His education background in Tourism mgmt made his switch jobs many times and did his MBA while he was jobless. His current business of car dealership is thanks to Arumugam and his contacts. In fact persistent allegations that Mani Kumar is Arumugam’s brother in law is not helping the situation. As we all know Arumugam is a bigamist who is on the hiding after his disgraceful performance and resignation as an ADUN.
As for the by-election, the conclusion is foregone. It is actually fun to see hindraf and PR Indians fighting each other than the MIC candidate. The independent candidates has no chance. Ganesan will win hands down. The question is now the majority really.
BTW did you see the support Mani kumar received as compared to Nizar’s in Batu Gantang ? That’s very revealing….wink wink..
Proves politics is just politics . Not peoples power. Nott anybody’s power. Just to grab power is the game.
My analysis…
There are 2 reasons for this Indian Mutiny and their unhappiness over the candidacy of Mani Kumar. The first and obvious reason is self-interest with people like Kalai Vanar, Hindraf legal advisor lawyer R. Surendran and Vasantha Kumar (one of Hindraf 5 ISA detainee) and Hindraf National Coordinator RS Thanendran actively vying to be the candidate. The fact that the winning candidate will be made an exco member if he wins no doubt a big motivation for these folks. Vasantha Kumar was born and bred in Bkt Selambau. RS Thanendran, a Penangite, was promised a position in Penang with MPSP or MPPP by Lim Guan Eng but that failed to materialize. As such this snub is particularly painful. It is important to note that Hindraf leadership itself had wanted and appealed to Anwar to allow a Hindraf candidate but in his “infinite wisdom” the sodomite turned the request down.
The 2nd reason is the choice of Mani Kumar. If Anwar had been sincere in wanting to have an Indian candidate, then he would have chosen someone who is young, clean, educated and can be acceptable to all races. However by choosing a loser like Mani Kumar, Anwar has shown that cronyism is still well and alive in PKR and PR.
It is also alleged that Mani Kumar is the brother in law of Arumugam, this tainting him in the process and lending more credence to the accusation of cronyism.
Mani Kumar, who has a degree in Tourism, is said to be a loser in life as well with constant change of jobs due to his unmarketable education. He did his MBA at UUM when he was jobless but that did nothing to his marketability. Finally the win of Arumugam came as godsend and the ADUN managed to help Mani to set up a car dealership. Even this did not go smoothly, with many accusations that Mani sold sub-standard cars and cheated people. In fact he has several pending court cases.
Mani was not involved in Makkal Sakthi movement nor he was active in PKR until after the GE. Worse still, he is just an ordinary member. He is a virtual unknown in Bkt Selambau.
As such, one wonders why in the first place Mani was even considered. The real reason is of course the influence of the bigamist ex-ADUN Arumugam and Datuk Ravi Dharan. It is Ravi who helped Arumugam to find a place in Mumbai to escape the adverse public reaction after his bigamist exploits were exposed. There was some fevered negotiation took place between Aru and Anwar and the bigamist refused to quit his goldmine of a job. So Anwar had to bring in Ravi Dharan, his Indian troubleshooter to help. Ravi arranged for a safe haven for Aru in exchange for his resignation. However, Aru managed to wrangle another concession: that Mani takes over his position (presumably to keep the cash flow running to his family coffers). This is the real reason for Anwar and PR’s actions in opting for a political greenhorn over more capable and experienced candidates.
Hindraf folks were already angry with Arumugam due to his bigamist ways and non- performance despite riding on the Makkal Sakthi wave. It is a common joke that even though Arumugam means 6-faced in Tamil, not even one face of Aru was seen in there. As such installing a dynasty of Arumugam has enraged these folks.
Some background on the main actors of this bad Kollywood masala movie. Kalai is most famous for his leading of the infamous Batu Caves Rebellion, which took place a day before the 25th November rally. A VCD of the entire incident was widely distributed during the GE by PR parties. Kalai was also prominent during the 25th Nov rally, with his pictures with a megaphone leading the crowd braving FRU was published around the world. As such, Kalai’s resignation is a big blow not just for Bkt Selambau but effectively for the relationship between PR and Hindraf. That all key Hindraf leaders had appealed to Anwar for a Hindraf candidate to be nominated but not unsurprisingly Anwar sodomised the Indians yet again.
Datu Ravi Dharan meanwhile has been a friend of Anwar since his DPM days. He had established his business interests in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka,etc. After Anwar was kicked out of the DPM post, Ravi parachuted to Indonesia. There, using Anwar’s contacts with Gus Dur, he managed to build a vast business empire. His influence also can be seen from Bala’s first SD and then his subsequent MIA act.
this is fun ….. the below m’kini report …… well drm is not a innocent fellow but when 2 dungus fight they tend to reveal each others hidden truth….
the report is a spit on face to all the loyal party supporters …… thank…. i left them long long ago…..
forget about the party members…. i dont think lay indians in bkt selambau would prefer to be stifled further…..
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Mahathir: Samy stifled Indian voices
Soon Li Tsin | Mar 6, 08 2:47pm
The problems plaguing the Indian community could be resolved by removing MIC president S Samy Vellu who stifled Indian voices, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday.
In the second part of an exclusive interview with the Malaysian statesman, Mahathir said removing the MIC leader would allow more Indian voices to be heard.
“I know their main grouse is not with me, their main grouse is with Samy Vellu because with him there, another Indian has been deprived of the chance to come up,” he said.
Speaking to Malaysiakini at his Perdana Leadership Foundation office in Putrajaya, Mahathir deflected allegations that the root cause of the Indian community’s strife was due to his pro-Malay focus during his tenure as PM.
“So they want to blame me? It is not that. Samy Vellu did not ask for assistance. The problem is that he is preventing other Indians from having a say.
“(Indian Progressive Front president MG) Pandithan was got rid of, (former MIC deputy president S) Subramaniam was got rid of, K Pathmanaban died but of course before that, he was (former MIC vice-president).
“That is his (Samy Vellu) way of doing things and of course the other voices cannot reach me. And of course, he doesn’t say there is this battling among the Indians,” he explained.
Pandithan, who was formerly with MIC, started IPF in 1990 after falling out with Samy. The two parties have been at odds with each other, especially after IPF sought to join the BN coalition.
Both Subramaniam and Pathmanaban have a history of bad blood with Samy in their failed attempts to challenge for the party presidency.
Mahathir also said in jest: “You know Indians are very political. Tunku Abdul Rahman used to say if there is one Indian, there is one political party. If there are two Indians, there are two political parties.”
‘Don’t stay too long’
In the interview that lasted almost an hour, Mahathir also alluded that people should not stay in power for too long and chances should be given to others.
“It is up to him to decide (to step down). A lot of people will say “if you step down, we will step down” and they will cry and all that. But when I step down, nobody stepped down,” he mused.
Samy Vellu who is the works minister and the longest-serving cabinet minister has been the MIC president since 1979 for 10 consecutive terms.
Mahathir also criticised Samy for not bringing up Indian issues in the cabinet.
“That is his excuse. I know how much he talks in the cabinet. Don’t (say) something that others cannot prove because nobody heard him in cabinet except us.
“He talks, but these things were not the issues that he raised – like the recovery of money for the Indian community who were brought here by force and all that.
“He never mentioned that, I’ve never heard him. He never said that the Malays were committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. He never said that. Why didn’t he say that?” he asked.
Asked to comment on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), the former PM said their demands were unreasonable.
“Quite a lot of their demands were quite unreasonable – practically denying the position of the Malays as the indigenous race on this country. You know this is something very sensitive to the Malays.
“If the government tell the Malays ‘sorry you’ve got the same status is the Indians’ I think there will be a big drop of support for the government from the Malays,” Mahathir added.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/79262