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SwarnaBumiputran of Malaysia

All the President’s Men…

September 13th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions Leave a reply »

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It was expected really. Regardless of what certain old man said or the piece of toilet paper that claims to be newspaper says, its a foregone conclusion. Even the head of BN Backbenchers Club, the controversial Bung Mohktar said this:

He said the crisis affecting the MIC could eventually spill over and affect the entire Barisan Nasional.

“If the MIC does not change and continues to be looked down by the community it is supposed to represent, Barisan will bear the brunt of this weakness,” Bung said in a statement here yesterday.

He said there were already signs of this happening, adding that the MIC had not been able to muster support for Barisan in recent by-elections.

“What has happened is that the Indian community is disunited and forming parties,” Bung added.

He said Samy Vellu should listen to voices from the Indian grassroots to give up the party president’s post that he has held for 30 years.

Nothing can beat the master strategist.

Personally, I thought either Balakrishnan or Teyagarajan will cause an upset in the race for vice president, but didn’t turn out that way. Out of the 27 President’s nominees for 23 CWC seats, at least 19 of Samy’s men won. That means from the balance 36 non-President’s candidates, only 4 won.

I’m interested with what Minnal FM radio news at 10pm mentioned just now: PM Najib congratulates Palanivel, and that he (Najib) thought the delegates did listen to him (Najib) and voted wisely. It also mentioned that PM Najib even said he expected Palanivel to win. I didn’t say that. Minnal newscaster said it. Hopefully there’s a recording or the text somewhere for reference. Anyway, The Star also reported similar thing:

In Pekan, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he wanted the MIC leaders who had won in the party election Saturday to close ranks and regain the support of the Indian community in the country.

He congratulated Palanivel as well as the other MIC leaders.

“The result that was announced had been expected. There were no surprises although support for the other candidates was rather strong.

“Nonetheless, based on my speech this morning, I believe this is the beginning of their efforts to win the support and heart of the Indian community,” he told reporters after attending a breaking of the fast and handing over of Hari Raya contributions at the Masjid Felda Chini 4, in Pekan.

This is NST’s version:

“The result that was announced had been expected. There were no surprises although support for the other candidates was rather strong.

“Nonetheless, based on my speech this morning, I believe this is the beginning of their efforts to win the support and heart of the Indian community,” he told reporters after attending a breaking of the fast and handing over of Hari Raya contributions at the Masjid Felda Chini 4, here today.

I listened to excerpts of PM Najib’s speech over the radio and it sounded energetic. Oh ya, there’s also the standard stuff – “support will be rewarded” mantra. He also mentioned about Kg Buah Pala:

“Look at the promise they made to Kampung Buah Pala. They made promises, don’t worry if we win, you all will stay here forever. But looked what happened.”

I don’t remember the leaders offering any solution, but the issue used for politics purpose. I hope our Indians in the hall didn’t clap enthusiastically for that.

Samy’s speech covered the some of the familiar things – economic equity, Tamil schools, government jobs etc.

Meanwhile, (sore?) loser Dato Subra claims it was money politics that caused his loss. Loss is loss la. Whatever reason also.

Beneath the surface, if we look at the results, the majority for Palanivel is a mere 82 votes . This indicates a very tough battle for the Samy Vellu to promote his man. And regardless of what Sothinathan may claim, his role was indeed a spoiler. If three quarters of his votes went to Dato Subra, it will be different song from Samy Vellu. Anyway, that’s a big IF, and I think if Sothinathan was not contesting, the majority may be higher for Palanivel, if we take in to account the results for vice presidents. Third placed Saravanan had a 560-odd majority over 4th placed Teagarajan.

The fight for CWC seats saw many state leaders losing: state chairman Datuk G. Rajoo (Perak), Datuk T. Rajagopalu (Negri Sembilan), Datuk V Saravanan (Kedah), Datuk R. Raghavan (Penang) and Dr K. Rajapathy (Penang) while the others include G. Vimalah Nair, P Logeswari @ Kajang Rani and G. Jayakumaran.

The Official Results:

Deputy president

G Palanivel* – 629
S Subramaniam – 547
S Sothinathan – 280
* 4 spoilt votes
Vice-president (3 posts)

Dr S Subramaniam – 1,260
SK Devamany – 1,122
M Saravanan – 1,030
S Balakrishnan – 471
VKK Teagarajan – 220
P Subramaniam – 215
P Mariayee – 61

* Incumbent. Those in bold are MIC president S Samy Vellu’s men.

Central Working Committee (23 seats)

1. KR Partiban
2. M Asojan
3. VS Mogan
4. RA Ragu Moorthi
5. S Murugesan
6. M Devandran
7. A Saktivel
8. Randhir Singh
9. Jaspal Singh
10. KRA Naidu
11. K Ganeson
12. S Ananthan
13. MM Samy
14. SP Manikavasagam *
15. M Paanjamoorthy
16. AGaneson
17. VK Suppiah
18. S Ganesan *
19. KP Samy *
20. SS Rajagopal
21. N Ravisandaran
22. P Palaniappan
23. Madhu Marimuthu *

* non-Samy candidates

So, there you go. Would be another 3 years of much empty promises and sweet talk, just like the situation in last two decades, as claimed by Samy? Did the delegates make a right choice? I think they did for the sake of the party. Having a deputy at odds with the leadership will only spell disaster. One just need to look at MCA. So, the delegates didn’t have much choice actually.

By the way, someone asked me what on the top floor of Tun Sambanthan building. I have no idea. Do you?

The links below are articles that appeared in the media for the last few weeks, focusing on MIC elections. In case you are very free, you can read them.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/11kd/Article/
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/4/nation/4450712&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/04rixx/Article/
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/5/nation/4449271&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/9mic1/Article/index_html
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/110056
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/7/nation/4472503&sec=nation
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/9/nation/4486172&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/11/nation/4491500&sec=nation
http://www1.malaysiakini.com/news/110365
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/12/nation/4503958&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/12/nation/4503957&sec=nation
http://malaysiakini.com/news/110862
http://malaysiakini.com/news/111523
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/5ssb/Article/index_html

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/28/nation/4602198&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/28/nation/4602584&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/15sso/Article/index_html
http://malaysiakini.com/news/111804

Posted in Indian

Tags: Elections MIC Najib Tun Razak Politicians

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3 comments

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Killer says:

September 13, 2009 at 12:56 am

It is good to see some non-endorsed candidates winning in the CWC race and as rightly said for the top positions Samy’s men won.

To be frank Samy’s men were clearly better and people like Subra and Sothi despite being branding themselves as reformers, are in actual fact just failed politicians who can contribute nothing.

My guess is that Samy will leave sooner than end of his term. I believe he stood for the post of President just to make sure Subra doesn’t get in using the opportunity. I guess Samy will step down to pave way for Palanivel. Don’t be surprised if Subra jumps ships to join the Pakatan bandwagon.

The real reform of MIC can only begin when Samy leaves but the reality is that without Samy’s continued presence will create a power struggle ala MCA. So this is a transition period need Samy to ensure an orderly power transfer.

I don’t know much about Palanivel but Devamany and Subra are people whom I have great respect. Many non Indians who have seen these people speak have commented very positively about them.
- poobalan says:
  
  September 13, 2009 at 1:22 am
  
  Yeah, Dato Subra was not able to comment with conviction when asked about his future plans. He should have firmly said its MIC till death for him. If he evades, then nampak sangat la…
  
  I think Sothi getting 280 votes is a respectable figure (20% no less). Perhaps it was a setup all along or maybe sympathy votes. The votes may just keep him afloat till the next elections. He just have to do a about-turn like Muthupalaniappan and the likes, and will be back in Samy’s good books.
  
  Dr Subra and Devamany are probably the two educated leaders who are actually display their “educated”ness. Devamany from education (teaching) background and strong figure in SMC, so he is not short on contribution nor experience.
kutty says:

September 13, 2009 at 6:26 pm

Whoever lah the winner maybe, but please take care of our Indians well being as I’m sure they wouldn’t want their Karma count to increase!!

Ensure the life of the Indian coummunity is increased better & all of us Indians no matter if in politics or not, please don’t be a CRAB & learn how to help one another.

We should all stand by each other as “1 Indian” 🙂

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