Don't worry, I'll quit as promised: Samy

S Samy Vellu said today that he will step down as MIC president in January next year as he had announced, ignoring speculation casting doubt on his intention.He said the speculation and negative reports on his resignation would not affect his thinking on his responsibility to the party.


"I will invite the press to witness my resignation and handing over of the post to the deputy president, G Palanivel," he told reporters after chairing a central working committee meeting at the MIC headquarters here.Samy Vellu said the group speculating that he was not certain of relinquishing the presidency next year would lose credibility among the Indian community.

"I hold firm to my thinking on my role (in the community) and what has been done and should be done for the community ... and the community knows this," the 74-year-old leader added.Samy Vellu, who has led MIC for 31 years, said all divisional and branch heads will adopt a hands-on approach in the 13th general election to get close to the voters.

They will be given leadership and management training to set up and organise service centres throughout the country and intensify efforts to register more Indians as voters, he added when asked about preparations for the national polls.Samy Vellu said the MIC had registered 30,000 new voters from early this year.
"We must show the community that the MIC takes seriously their welfare, especially in education matters," he added.

PKR crisis will help BN

He was confident that Barisan Nasional would win the next general election partly because of the crisis in PKR."Even before this, many (Indian) supporters of PKR in the 2008 general election had returned to the MIC as is evident from our win in Hulu Selangor (in April 2010) and Bagan Pinang (in Negri Sembilan in October 2009)," Samy Vellu said.On issues discussed at the central working committee meeting, he said the MIC is asking the government to extend the Care and Early Childhood Education Programme of Permata Negara (or National Gems, referring to children of five years and below).

He called for the expansion of pre-school education, with more teachers to provide it to Tamil children.Samy Vellu also urged the government to allocate RM50 million as venture capital to help some 100 Indian technological entrepreneurs.

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/148561