Posts Tagged ‘Elections’

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Najib on MIC elections

March 23rd, 2009
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From what I read, DPM Najib doesn’t sound very enthusiastic with the re-appointment of Samy Vellu as MIC President. His hands are tied as its another party, so nothing much to be done. Judge for yourself the comments made:

BARISAN Nasional (BN) component parties must be responsible for the leaders they choose to lead them, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today.

“We don’t interfere in the affairs of any BN component party. We leave it to their members to elect the leaders they think deserve their support through their internal process.

“We hope that the election of leaders in the BN component parties will have an impact on the respective parties … they should be responsible for the leaders they choose,” the deputy prime minister told reporters after opening the bumiputera entrepreneurs symposium organised by Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF).

He was asked to comment on the election of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as MIC president for a record 11th consecutive term after more than 90 per cent of the nominations for his challenger, Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan, were rejected by the party’s presidential election committee during nominations yesterday.

Asked whether Samy Vellu’s election would further hamper the BN’s efforts to gain the support of the Indian community, Najib said: “There are various opinions but he (Samy Vellu) has been elected by the MIC members so we have to accept it and we have to work hard to convince the Indian Community that the BN is serious about their interests.

The deputy prime minister said that the BN had in fact taken various measures towards this end, the latest being the aid given to repair Tamil primary schools as announced in the economic stimulus plan.

Asked whether Samy Vellu’s election would affect the BN’s chances in the April 7 Bukit Selambau by-election, he said: “We’ll see the result then.”

“But for now we are working hard and we must go down to the ground and meet all the voters and convince them that the BN has an agenda to fight for the interests of all races,” he said, adding that the voters in Bukit Selambau could gauge how well their assemblyman from the opposition had served them since the general election in March last year.

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Last Term for Samy

March 22nd, 2009
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After Muthu’s nominations were mostly rejected, leaving him with only 5, Samy Vellu was declared as MIC President for a record 11th consecutive term, after the party’s presidential nominations closed at the party headquarters on Sunday.

Samy Vellu obtained 455 nominations as opposed to five garnered by his challenger, former MIC vice president Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan.

Samy Vellu has been president since 1979, when he became the acting president after the death of then president Tan Sri V. Manikavasagam.

Samy Vellu’s win Sunday came on the date he had officially become the party supremo 28 years ago in 1981.

Vijayanathan, in making the announcement, said Samy Vellu had obtained 572 nominations in all but 117 nominations were rejected for non-compliance with the party constitution and the presidential election by-laws.

Muthupalaniappan had 53 nominations but 48 were rejected for the same reasons, he said.

“The election steering committee verified all the nomination papers and as a result of the verification, we rejected those nominations for both the contenders,” he added.

Looks like Muthu’s worst nightmare had become true:

Vijaynathan said: “Ninety-nine percent of the nominations were rejected for duplicity (branch chairpersons who nominated both candidates).”

Dismissing the allegation that the entire process was rigged, he said Muthupalaniappan’s chances were slim from the start.

“He was already treading a thin line, his safe margin was less than five percent.”

After filing his nomination papers, Muthupalaniappan told reporters that his rivals were using underhand tactics to disqualify him from the race.

He alleged that the incumbent’s camp went from door-to-door to secure nominations from those who had already nominated Muthupalaniappan, thus rendering the nominations invalid.

The former MIC vice-president, who vowed to bring massive reforms to the party if elected, confidently declared: “If my nomination goes through, I’ll become the president.”

Anyway, the following may be music to some ears:

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu said this would be his last presidential elections. “I will leave after this (term). I have nothing to hide. All the 3,640 MIC branch leaders are my bosses.”

Thanking God for being allowed to helm the party for a record 11th term, the president said he would relinquish the reins after training the next generation of leaders.

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Muthu qualifies?

March 19th, 2009
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Been busy with post-SPM/STPM activities updates, so apologies for not updating the blog. Let’s see what happened the last few days. One story that caught my eye was the statement by MIC’s presidential hopeful Muthupalaniappan. He was complaining of all kinds of campaigns or irregularities happening at branch level such as:

– branch chairmen being intimidated not to nominate him

– nomination forms came preprinted with the incumbent’s name

– lack of forms for him to distribute easily

Well, imagine our surprise when despite all the hurdles Muthu claims, he managed to get the minimum 50 nominations! In fact, he says 51 is in the bag.

The 66-year-old challenger said: “I’m happy to say I have 51 nominations.

“Many branches nationwide, wishing for a leadership change, have invited me to visit them and collect their nominations.”

Saying he did not have enough nomination forms to distribute to all branches, Muthupalaniappan added: “I need to supply new forms as most of those sent to the branches have Samy Vellu’s name printed on them.”

Muthupaniappan, however, refused to reveal the source of his nominations saying the branches feared repercussions.

He said he would collect the remaining nominations, in time to file them with the presidential election committee for its approval on Saturday.

Well, one can only wish him all the best. Hopefully he is able to collect and submit the forms in time, and the forms are not rendered invalid due to various technical reasons.

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Muthu cries foul over nomination threats

March 2nd, 2009
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With less than 3 weeks to nomination day, MIC president hopeful Muthupalaniappan is having problems getting nominations.  He claims that branch chairpersons were being threatened not to nominate him.  However he aims to persevere and hopes to be nominated. We wonder if his wishes will come true…

He said some leaders in the party were threatening the branch chairpersons not to nominate him for the top post or their branches would face closure for various reasons.

“All sorts of threats are being used. These underhand tactics are to ensure that I do not receive enough number of nominations to fight for the president’s post. If the election is not fair, then there is no point in contesting,” he told Bernama.

Under the party constitution, a presidential aspirant needs to obtain 50 nominations, and each nomination must have one proposer and five seconders, to be eligible to contest. All proposers and seconders must be branch chairpersons.

The MIC president will be picked by some 3,700 branch chairpersons nationwide. The party has fixed March 22 for the presidential nomination while polling is slated for April 12.

Quashing speculation that he would pull out of the contest, Muthupalaniappan said: “There is a lot of speculation that I will not stand but I will and shall contest.”

“They are trying to stop me by stopping people from nominating me,” he said, without disclosing any names.

“There is no level playing field. They have postponed the annual general meetings of some branches that supported me, especially in Negeri Sembilan, so that my supporters would be ineligible to vote.

“But there are branch leaders who are signing nominations for me…although many are scared of repercussions from the powers that be,” Muthupalaniappan said.

The 68-year-old politician from Seremban hoped that the branch leaders would act according to the aspirations of the 600,000 MIC members and the community, which wanted to see change in the MIC top leadership.

He also claimed that some MIC division leaders and state chairpersons, who were supposed to be returning officers in the presidential elections, were involved in campaigning.

“Under the party constitution, division leaders and state chairmen are returning officers of the presidential election.

“If they are returning officers, they should not be allowed to campaign in the election. It is like the Election Commission campaigning in an election. That is wrong,” he added.

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Toll hike drama

February 27th, 2009
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I think it fits to be part of a mega-serial story. First, the toll price hike was announced after it was supposedly approved weeks ago as mentioned by PM Badawi. He also went on to suggest that the increase should be put off. Now the situation is deemed unsuitable (read: by-elections) and the price hike is being postponed to at least 31 December of this year (well, we know well enough not to trust dates given by politicians!). UPDATE: DPM Najib says its postponed indefinitely! I liked the one with date. Indefinitely sounds bad to me…don’t know why…

It won’t go unnoticed that elections actually spur development and brings forth positive outcome for many people. So, its good if ADUNs/MPs resign/convicted/dies. The rakyat get goodies and need not wait till five years. We “just” sacrifice one human being for the betterment of many others(!!!!).  So, shall we pray for more by-elections?

Who needs Astro if we can get weekly dramas like this 😉

The government has decided to suspend toll hike of up to 33 percent for five major highways in Klang Valley announced yesterday.

MCPX

The decision was made by the cabinet at its weekly meeting today chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had yesterday call for the cabinet to reconsider toll hike of up to 33 percent for five major highways in Klang Valley.

Abdullah, who is attending an Asean defence ministers meeting in Thailand, said he was concerned that public anger over the latest hike could affect BN’s popularity especially ahead of three crucial by-elections.

The five affected highways are North-South Expressway (Plus), Sprint Highway (Sprint), Ampang Elevated Highway (Akleh), Sungai Besi Highway (Besraya) and New Pantai Expressway (NEP).

In an announcement yesterday, Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed said that toll rates in these five highways would go up on Sunday.

In a dramatic reversal, Mohd Zin said that the toll hike has been “deferred” in view of the public reaction and the ailing economy at a press conference at 4.30pm today.

“With that, my statement yesterday on the toll hike is cancelled,” he said.

Mohd Zin said that the toll increase will be postponed to after Dec 31 this year.

With the 10-month delay, the government will have to pay RM287 million in compensation to the five toll concessionaires.

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