Share |

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

MIED Will Serve Indian Community For Long Haul, Says Palanivel

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- Although the Maju Institute of Education Development (MIED), the education arm of the MIC, is a separate entity from the party, it will serve the community for the long haul, party deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel said Tuesday.

"Last evening when I was in Bagan Pinang, I managed to get a few minutes with (MIC president) Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and asked about the MIED matter and he gave me his explanation. He explained what he meant when he said the MIED was a separate entity.

"Yes, we all know that it is a separate entity governed by trustees. The MIED is a child of MIC. It was born in the MIC with its president, Samy Vellu, as its founder.

"All the trustees and most of the board members are all MIC leaders at various levels, both past and present.

Therefore, it is a well-placed organisation, structured to serve the community for the long haul," he said in his jottings in his blog.

Over the week, newspapers and the new media on the Internet had lambasted Samy Vellu after he said that the MIED, worth RM1 billion including the party's Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST), was a separate entity from the MIC.

He was also reported to have said that since it was a separate entity, the Malaysian Indian community or the MIC had nothing to do with it, although the MIED was run under the umbrella of the largest Indian-based political party in the country.

This remark had drawn the ire of several party leaders and the community as it was a known fact that the MIED, and especially AIMST, were built on monies collected from the community and the party grassroot leaders.

"In a recent conversation with me at the MIC headquarters, Samy Vellu said that even when he is no longer president of MIC he will still be coming to the MIED office, which is in the same building, to work. I had jokingly replied 'that means the people will not be coming to see me'.

"Let us put to rest the question of the MIED walking away or being hijacked. The MIED is the pride of the Indian community. Let us keep it that way," Palanivel said.

Noting that the media had been chasing him for comment on the MIED over the week, he said he had been busy with a myriad of things including the Bagan Pinang by-election, functions in the Hulu Selangor constituency and preparations for Deepavali events for the poor.

Besides, he had never been one to comment on issues without giving them thought, neither was he one to make attempts to be seen as a champion for things when there was no necessity to do so, he said.

No comments: