Samy Vellu's battle royal or storm in a teacup?

Monday, 24 May 2010 11:24

SAMY Vellu, the MIC president since 1979, wielded the party stick when he sacked V. Mugilan, the party deputy Youth chief, for allegedly working against the interest of the party.Days earlier, the MIC president announced that he would step down "eight or nine months" before the end of his term in May 2012. But a stinging attack from Mugilan ensued: "Samy Vellu is the biggest stumbling block. He is the reason we lost the Indian votes (in the last general election)". He alleged that Samy Vellu's presence was damaging both MIC and Barisan Nasional and was detrimental to the survival of MIC.Barely 24 hours after the Youth No 2's botched attempt at a coup, the party leader acted swiftly and decisively to remove Mugilan.In an effort to draw a line under the affair, the veteran politician promised a smooth transition of power and said, "I want all party members to know that the transformation of MIC will continue. The transition of power in the MIC would be smooth." However, he did not reveal his successor, thus leading to intense speculation because of strained ties between Samy Vellu and his number two, G Palanivel, the hitherto heir apparent.


Ever since Samy Vellu was ousted from his Sungai Siput constituency in his ninth attempt to retain the seat in the 2008 elections, rumblings about his leadership have built to a crescendo.This month, Petaling Jaya Selatan division head V Subramaniam, better known as Barat Maniam, was sacked after criticising Samy Vellu over the senatorships that were awarded and for saying that MIC was in a critical state: "MIC is no more a party that represents the Indian community in Malaysia. In fact, it has already become Samy Vellu family's party. Just look at the current positions in MIC. "Lending support to Mugilan and the growing voices of dissent was MIC central working committee (CWC) member G Kumar Aman who claimed to represent thousands of Indian youths demanding Samy Vellu's resignation and for deputy president G Palanivel to lead the 630,000-member party.As the drama in MIC intensified, the focus shifted to the strength of support being given by other MIC top brass who seemed to be solidly behind Samy Vellu.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno have also been applying pressure on Samy Vellu to set a transition plan in motion. They believe him to be responsible for MIC's dismal performance during the last general election, when Indian votes shifted to the opposition.Whilst the opportunity to finally lay this matter to rest is obvious, the continued speculation and uncertainty will portray MIC as dispirited and disunited. The credibility of the MIC president will be further damaged with the continuing accusations of nepotism and cronyism and the known scandals related to the various shares issues.By overstaying his welcome and desperately clinging on to power, Samy Vellu becomes an easy target. Although he may brush off calls for his resignation, the many attempts to unseat him clearly show his time is up.

MIC member,
Sentul, Kuala Lumpur

Source from : http://www.malaysianmirror.com/