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I am only trying to get back what was mine

May 10th, 2009
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So says former MIC deputy president Dato Subra . Doesn’t sound very encouraging to hear.

Former MIC deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam has announced his decision to contest the post in party polls scheduled for September.

“I am only trying to get back what was mine,” said Subramaniam, who was the longest serving deputy president in the party’s history, from 1981 to 2006.

In the 2006 party elections, Subramaniam was ousted by Datuk G. Palanivel, who had the backing of president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu then.

It is understood that Subramaniam’s relationship with Samy Vellu had improved since, although the latter refused to admit that he had the president’s endorsement to be the number two man in the party.

“I informed him of my intention to contest, that’s all. He told me he wants a healthy competition. I do not have any problem with Samy Vellu,” he told reporters after opening the Seputeh MIC division delegates conference.

When asked to elaborate on speculation that he had Samy Vellu’s backing, he merely said: “He is supportive of a contest (for the deputy presidentship)”.

“If he says he will support (a particular candidate), then it will definitely improve that person’s chances,” he said.

Subramaniam, who is currently the Seputeh MIC division chairman, said he chose to contest because he felt he could play a more effective role in the party with the position.

Anyway, good luck to him and the rest.

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Ganesan as new Perak assembly speaker

May 5th, 2009
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If all goes according to plan, we will see the first time in 52 years an Indian will be appointed as state assembly speaker by the BN government. If all does not go well, we shall be maintaining the existing Indian speaker appointed by newly elected state government (in March 2008). Well, who cares about copying as long as something good comes out of it right? 🙂

Datuk R. Ganesan, the former two-term Sungkai state assemblyman, has been nominated as Barisan Nasional’s replacement candidate for the state assembly speaker’s post.

Ganesan, who was bypassed in favour of MIC vice-president Datuk S. Veerasingam in the last general election for the Sungkai seat, was nominated by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

The nomination was seconded by senior state executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman.

V. Sivakumar, the speaker from Pakatan Rakyat, posted Ganesan’s nomination as his replacement in his blog (speakforperak.blogspot.com).

In his blog entry on Thursday night, Sivakumar said the nomination, via a motion before the state assembly, was submitted to the office of the secretary of the assembly on Thursday morning.

“The motion dated April 29 was attached with an acceptance letter from Ganesan,” he said in his blog.

Speaking to the New Straits Times yesterday, Ganesan, who is Perak MIC secretary and the party’s central working committee member, thanked Zambry for nominating him.

“This is another journey in my political career since I joined MIC in 1976. I will serve to the best of my abilities,” he said, adding that he only knew about his nomination when he was called to Zambry’s office on Tuesday to sign the acceptance letter.

Ganesan, 57, a practising lawyer, was born in Hutan Melintang and served as a teacher before reading law. He was called to the Bar in 1997.

He has been the Ipoh Timor MIC division chairman since 2000, having served as the division secretary from 1994.

Married to Datin D. Saraswathy, who is headmistress of SRK (Tamil) Sungai Pari, Buntong, the couple have with three sons aged 18 to 28.

Ganesan was among three candidates proposed by MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the post.

One of the other candidates named was Datuk Dr S.Vasan, who contested the Pasir Panjang seat last year but lost to ousted menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

There is the small matter of the speaker dismissing the motion as being not urgent or of importance.

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Malaysian Indian attacked by Indian High Commission staff

May 4th, 2009
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Yup, you read that right. The MIC Youth sent a protest memorandum against the attack, but they were snubbed and even challenged to a fight. Hmm..they should have taken it and bashed those security guards 🙂

The memorandum which was not accepted by the officials:

4th of May 2009

His Excellency the High Commissioner,
The High Commission of India,
Kuala Lumpur.

Your Excellency,

RE : INHUMANE TREATMENT OF MALAYSIAN CIVILIANS AT INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION,MALAYSIA

We, members of Social and Welfare Bureau of Malaysian Indian Congress Youth Wing, hereby submit our memorandum to register our vehement protest against the Indian High Commission’s inhumane treatment towards Mr Arunagiri Nathan and Mrs Gogelavani at Indian High Commision on 30th of April 2009.

For your kind information Your Excellency, Mr and Mrs Arunagiri Nathan Gogelavani has been coming to Indian High Commission two (2) consecutive days prior to the incident for foreign workers application.

On 30th of April 2009, Mrs and Mrs Arunagiri Nathan were stopped at Entrance of the High Commission for a security check by security guard. When Mrs Arunagiri asked the security guards not to use scanning devices on her body due to her pregnancy, the security guards were rude and verbally assaulted her by claiming that the premise was “Indian territory” and Malaysians do not have any rights on them.

When Mr Arunagiri responded to the security guards, he was dragged into the High Commission premise and the gate was locked from within, living his wife stranded outside of the High Commission building. The security guard started to hit Mr Arunagiri with a long stick. He was repeatedly beaten without mercy by the security guards and other unnamed officers from High Commission.

He was strangled, beaten, verbally assaulted and man handled until his shirt was torn. Due to the blunt trauma on his skull and hands, he was rushed to Selayang Hospital for further treatment. As for now, he has been having recurring headaches and his hands were swollen due the beatings. This incident has been reported to Royal Malaysian Police by Mrs Gogelavani (Report Reference Number: SENTUL/005689/09).

We, Social and Welfare Bureau of MIC Youth, most respectfully, request His Excellency to take this incident as a serious breach of basic human rights. We demand the personals involved in this incident to be suspended and handed over to the Royal Malaysian Police immediately for further investigation.

We also demand an official apology by High Commission of India to Mr and Mrs Arunagiri Gogelavani for mental anguish and trauma that they are going through.

We sincerely hope Your Excellency will solve this matter swiftly and diligently. We on our part will forward a copy of this Memorandum to our Foreign Affairs Ministry, Prime Minister’s Department and Prime Minister’s Office of India for their action as this involves Malaysian citizen and the High Commission of India.

Yours truly,

_______________
S.SUBRAMANIAM (019-351 7474)
Chairman
Social and Welfare Bureau
National MIC Youth

So, what’s next? Call for massive protest in front of the embassy? Burn Indian flag? Demand that the high commissioner is sent back to India? Ask big money compensation? Organise campaign to boycott products from India? Fix some thugs to bash the guards and officials? Hmm…so many creative thoughts….

The area inside the perimeter is considered off-limits to local police, if I’m not mistaken. So, one who is patient will wait till the bird leaves the nest. It then becomes fair game.

Actually, if the guard insist on using scanner, the only the husband could have gone in while the wife stayed outside. Maybe they didn’t give the couple a chance to change their mind? Or the husband said some unsavoury words which agitated the guards? Or maybe the guards and officials are actually having mental problems and violent tendencies- which in turn highlights a possible security threat for the High Commissioner himself.

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Return of the Indians…to BN

April 28th, 2009
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Note the words “returning to BN”. Not “returning to MIC”?

First things first – the survey. How to judge the validity of the survey? Who conducted it? What was the sampling and methods used? Who were the respondents? Are the raw data available for independent verification and investigation? LOL…so many questions in just a minute’s moment. Well, let’s take it in a positive way and believe with our whole heart that Samy is telling the truth.

Next, analysis of his statements: Reasons for the “return” was partly due to RM130 million allocation for schools, quota for ASM units, and RM2 million for SJKT Ladang Bukit Jalil’s new building.  So, the more BN gives, more support from Indians.  “When no give, no support”, says community. Good.

And I hope the RM2 million will not be uncovered as part of the RM130 million as happened in another school in the north.

Samy also mentioned that “he had personally gauged their feelings during his nationwide tour of the country recently”. Again, how was the measurement done? We have heard similar stories before, and end up losing the by-elections. And Samy should also be well aware that public merely clapping hands, attending events, and saying supportive words will not necessarily transform into support and votes. The community may be just leading him on.

Perhaps he is buoyed by announcement that 30,000 youths are ready to join MIC Youth as mentioned by T Mohan recently.

Another possible reason for the return is the news that this will be his last term as president and he will quit by end of next year.

Ah…finally some news about MIC website. It was mentioned last year April or May that it will be upgraded. And looks like some major overhaul indeed as it has taken a year now… We hope its will be as good as, if not better than, the other political parties’ website.

Long time MIC supremo, S Samy Vellu, claims a preliminary survey by the party has revealed that many Indians, including youths wanted to join and support the party and Barisan Nasional, after seeing positive changes taking place under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Samy Vellu said the random survey conducted through direct contacts with Indian NGOs, support and civil groups and individuals throughout the country revealed that many of the requests made by the MIC for the community had been delivered by the Prime Minister.

He said some of the requests included the RM130 million allocation for Tamil schools and the 15 percent quota of the recent sale of 3.33 billion units of Amanah Saham Malaysia shares.

He also commended Najib’s deputy Muhyiddin Yassin’s “lightning speed” action in settling the Bukit Jalil Tamil school land problem with an allocation of RM2 million.

“This has also brought ‘a new paradigm shift’ in the thinking of the Indian community towards the BN.”

MIC to reach out more to the Indians

“Many Indians who deserted the BN in the last general election have shown renewed interest in returning to the BN,” said Samy Vellu.

He said he had personally gauged their feelings during his nationwide tour of the country recently.

“We will soon carry out a detailed survey through our branches and with the help of the Indian NGOs,” he said.

Samy Vellu said the survey was important for the party to implement strategies and changes within MIC so as to meet the expectations and aspirations of the Indian community.

He said the MIC would reach out more to the community through restructured and reorganised branches.

“Information on the party’s operations and programmes will be disseminated through the soon-to-be launched MIC portal which will also act as the ‘nerve centre’ of the MIC,” he said.

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Interview with Samy Vellu

April 27th, 2009
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Some interesting points from interview with Samy Vellu:

1. Samy plan to be around about 1.5 years more, meaning till end of 2010.

2. The deputy needs training.  So, that means current deputy will not be the deputy in September? Or the current deputy did not learn enough or not given opportunity to learn/train?

3.  He is not decided on who to endorse as deputy president. I guess the members are not confident enough to decide on their own. Need to get assurance from leader.

By PAUL GABRIEL

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu will stay a year-and-half at the most, as he wants time to “train” his deputy, who will be elected in September.

He said he would announce when he would step down during the party elections.

“The new leader will need time to be trained. I can’t just walk away.

“The new man will not be in a position to do what needs to be done. In September, I will announce that I will get out of the party at which particular time,” he said in an interview at the MIC headquarters.

Samy Vellu, 73, who has led the MIC since 1979, was returned unopposed for an unprecedented 11th term in March when his challenger’s nomination papers were rejected.

The president, who failed to retain his Sungei Siput parliamentary seat in the last general election, said he expected a four-cornered contest for the deputy presidency.

He named the contenders as MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is the party’s sole Cabinet representative, vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan, former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam and incumbent Datuk G. Palanivel.

Asked if he would endorse any one of them to be his deputy and eventual leader of the MIC, he said this was his “greatest headache.”

“Now there are too many people clamouring for that post. Who should really be the person to be the next deputy president? All of them have served the party in their own way,’’ he added.

Samy Vellu said he needed to do some very deep thinking before deciding if he should endorse any one of them.

“This is going to be a very important party election. It could go either way – the candidates who win could keep the party going with new strategies and plans, or it could be the start of new problems and internal bickering thereafter,’’ he said.

On the expected candidacy of former deputy president Subramaniam, his long-standing arch-rival, Samy Vellu said they were friends and on talking terms.

“But the decision he is seeking can only be made by the delegates, not me.

“In the previous election (I sided against him) because of so many other factors,’’ he added.

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