COMMENTARY, May 31 — For decades, all that was Indian in Malaysia revolved around the MIC, but yesterday’s poor turnout at the inaugural rally by the Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu or GAS, suggests the party and its president were becoming increasingly irrelevant.
“There is no point in going there. The party is irrelevant, the man is irrelevant,” said Thomas Venga, a lawyer.
“I am happy with Pakatan. My friends and I discussed the rally and we decided to give it a pass.”
“We all felt there is no point to make at the GAS rally because the MIC and us have nothing in common,” he said.
Indians in general have expressed similar sentiments about why the GAS rally did not fire their imagination as the Nov 25, 2007 Hindraf rally had done.“We also know Umno is behind the protest, otherwise how can they book the hall in 24 hours and get the whole mainstream media backing GAS?” said Jivan, also a lawyer and colleague of Thomas.Umno blogger Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri, in a recent posting on his blog, also demonstrated the MIC’s irrelevance.He said a party that claims a membership of 700,000 manage to “persuade only 179,000 Indians to vote for BN.”
“It’s better for MIC to focus on regaining its eminence and trust,” he said.
“I know, MIC members are not concentrated in any particular voting areas, but to be able to get this measly number means, in places where a BN component party stood, MIC was incapable of persuading its members residing there to vote BN,” he said.About 3,000 people turned out for yesterday’s rally instead of the promised 15,000, but GAS founder V. Mugilan still called it a success.
He also blamed Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and his supporters for the poor turnout, but such claims remain questionable.While plainclothes policemen were present, no uniformed personnel were on duty at the rally in the cavernous hall of the Mines Exhibition Centre in Sri Kembangan.
The rally was peaceful except for some commotion after one of the attendees used his shoes to hit at a portrait of Samy Vellu, considered an act of derision in Asian cultures.
Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran said he had expected a low turnout as Indians in his constituency, who had crowded the Nov 25, 2007 protest, were not mobilising to attend the GAS rally.
“They are not interested in the MIC anymore, especially in Samy Vellu whom they blamed for hijacking the Telekoms shares and causing the failure of Maika Holdings,” he said.
“Since they are Pakatan supporters now, they don’t see a reason to protest against Samy Vellu,” Kulasegaran said.The rally was also poorly organised and saw a number of speakers taking to the rostrum to slam Samy Vellu.
“They were just letting off steam. The organisers had not planned it well and they allowed unrelated people to speak at the rally. It was a chaotic mess,” said one of the participants, I. Elumalai, from Johor. “There was no focus except whacking Samy Vellu.”
“It is foolish to think that all our community’s woes would be solved by Samy Vellu stepping down. There is no discussion, no papers about who is to take over, what is the new agenda,” he said.
Another participant, a former IPF leader, said it was clear to him the GAS rally had been “hijacked” by people close to former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam. “Mugilan failed to lead but allowed people from the past that are mere political shadows to dominate the show.”
The question now is: What next for GAS?
Mugilan says they will take a week’s rest before starting a signature campaign to collect some 500,000 signatures to force Samy Vellu to step down.
But unless deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel or senior vice-president Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam takes charge and leads the anti-Samy Vellu movement, the veteran is unlikely to leave immediately.
Samy Vellu has indicated, for what it is worth, that he will go earlier than the September 2011 date he has given himself, but only if “other official duties” are offered.
He is in the mood for bargaining and that is because pressure from GAS is beginning to work, even though bigger shows of dissent are probably needed to oust him immediately.
Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
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