KUALA KUBU BARU: Barisan Nasional's decision to field P Kamalanathan for the Hulu Selangor by-election has enraged the supporters of MIC deputy president G Palanivel and local leader V Mugilan.
According to sources, both camps are contemplating casting protest votes in order to teach BN and Umno leaders a lesson.
“How can they embarrass Palanivel in this manner?” exclaimed a local MIC member, who declined to be named.
“He is the deputy president of MIC and a four-term MP in Hulu Selangor. They should not have done this to him. Mark my words, there will be protest votes,” he told FMT.
The MIC member pointed out that Palanivel has worked hard for MIC and BN for many years, and he should not have been treated in this manner.
“You cannot simply use and throw leaders like this, he won the seat four times for BN and nobody complained then. Suddenly, they talk about change and a new face,” he said.
Hitting out at the Umno top brass, the MIC member said: “Forget about Indian and Chinese votes, Let's see if they (Umno) can deliver the Malay votes.”
On the same note, a supporter of Mugilan also expressed outrage that the Hulu Selangor MIC Youth chief was sidelined despite having the backing of Umno leaders in the constituency.
“Former menteri besar (Dr Mohd) Khir Toyo and (Selangor Umno deputy chief) Noh Omar also wanted Mugilan and he (Mugilan) was made to believe that he will be the candidate.
“He stuck out his neck, but in the end, they slit his throat,” he said.
Meanwhile, a source close to Palanivel told FMT that the MIC deputy president has accepted the decision, and will campaign in the by-election.
“Whatever said and done, he is a MIC man and he will deliver the votes to BN,” he said.
On the speculation that he will be offered a senatorship and eventually be made a deputy minister, the source said Palanivel will “think carefully” about this.
'Give Palanivel senatorship and we'll back Kamalanathan'
In a related development, Hulu Selangor MIC information chief Raily Muniandy said the division will only back Kamalanathan if Palanivel is offered a senator post.
He also conceded that the last-minute change in candidate will have an impact in terms of votes for the ruling coalition.
“We in Hulu Selangor were hoping that it will be Palanivel. He was the MP here for four terms and is a well-known figure in this area.
“The decision not to field him will definitely see a decrease in votes for BN,” he told FMT.
“We wanted Palanivel, but we are forced to accept the BN leadership's decision. We are prepared to support Kamalanathan but the government needs to give a senator post to Palanivel," he added.
On his earlier threat to close down MIC branches in Hulu Selangor if Palanivel is not named as the candidate, Raily claimed that he was misquoted by the media.
MIC had nominated Palanivel for the parliamentary seat, but the BN leadership had rejected this based on opposition from Umno, which lobbied for Mugilan.
However, MIC threatened to take disciplinary action against Mugilan for allegedly using backdoor tactics to be named as the candidate.
Following an intense last-minute discussion between Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and MIC president S Samy Vellu, both parties agreed on Kamalanathan.
In a related development, local non-governmental organisation Persokemas said the controversy surrounding the candidate showed that it is Umno, and not MIC, which calls the shots.
"We, the people of Hulu Selangor are not stupid. What we want from BN and MIC is a capable candidate not a substitute," he told FMT.
“What does Samy Vellu think? He can change the candidate as he pleases, and we are expected to vote for him,” he said.
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Friday, April 16, 2010
Mandore-ism - A letter to Aneh
Private Memo
To:
My dearest most respectable yang sangat berhormat (DMD*) Uthy,
(*dimasa depan)
C’est moi, your tamby, Dodgee Dimsum. My dear dear Aneh who is like Puratchi Thalaivar, eppati irukkinga? Unnai rumba izhanthu vittean.
Enakku udhavi seivienkala? I wonder what you think of the situation in Hulu Selangor. I ask only because my dear Aneh has been noticeably silent about it, unlike your usual wonderfully succinct blasting at that Chinese communist dictator up north on that island, and demolition of his mandore deputy.
Aneh, I was expecting you to lambast those people in Hulu Selangor too for being mandore-ish, in toeing their Big Aneh’s line. They have lost their sovereign dignity, mind you, not that there was any existing before.
Isn’t it just mandore-like of them when even the president’s personal recommendation was ignored and chucked aside, and the deputy president (and future president, though now this is very much in doubt) was left in a devastatingly humiliated state. They were treated, so to speak, like mandores.
Thus I was a wee surprised that Aneh didn’t immediately lambast those mandores. Methinks Aneh is just reserving your energy for that No 2 man up north on that island, but you know best.
My grandfather who saw life through the British colonial period into our nation’s independence, told me of Aneh’s people, brought over from the homeland. There were two groups, one from an island (not that one in our north where your mandore lives) but the one which is more ‘Eelam-ish’ just across the samudera (I feel so privilege to use this word from your homeland), and the other from the sub-continent.
Those orang putih deployed them according to their skills, the islanders (because they were better educated) into their civil bureaucracy and the latter into plantations or as labourers.
All of them, from the two groups, were considered by those colonial masters as mandores, but my grandfather was amazed that among the two groups, the islanders considered the other group as mandores, and would not permit their children to ever marry anyone from the mandore group (though in recent times, a few brave ones have). There was a very conscious division based on class, caste and pannikote origin, and it saddens me because aiyoyo ma, no one with sub-continent ancestors will ever have a chance to marry the delicious hot looking daughter of the man once-reputed as Malaysia’s richest. Sayang saje.
The class distinction was so unlike Chinese society, which could explain why Chinese are more likely to lean towards Marxism while Indians are not so, being faithful to God - a case of agama but not bangsa.
Again it may explain why Indians in our military have been more trusted than the Chinese by the Malay authorities. Chinese could be potential commies, and which a rather ‘flexible’ politician (in Washington recently with the PM) has brilliantly identified one such Chinese communist dictator, up north on that island. Apparently there was a golf story behind this but let's leave that for another day.
I hope to hear from Aneh soon, if not to me privately, then via the media, about mandore-ism in Hulu Selangor (unless of course, their Aneh gives you the land for 98 Tamil schools in Selangor). Apram paarkalame.
I am, your most respectful and obedient tamby,
Dodgee Dimsum.
* copied from KTemoc
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