Samy: I made a costly mistake

By RK Anand - Free Malaysia Today

EXCLUSIVE KUALA KUBU BARU: MIC president S Samy Vellu admitted making a "costly mistake" by jumping the gun to name his deputy G Palanivel as the candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election.
In an exclusive interview with FMT this evening, the 74-year-old politician, who was in high spirits and a picture of health, explained the “confusion” surrounding the party's candidate.

The interview was held at Palanivel's former service centre, where the shelves were still littered with copies of a book on the MIC deputy president.

Palanivel was the four-term MP for Hulu Selangor prior to his defeat in the 2008 general election and it looked almost certain that he would run again for the seat in this by-election.

But the Barisan Nasional leadership decided otherwise. After days of haggling, he was dropped in favour of MIC information chief P Kamalanathan at the eleventh hour.

Following this, certain quarters had blamed Samy Vellu for irking Umno by being too quick – within 24 hours after the death of the Hulu Selangor incumbent - to name Palanivel as the candidate, a task normally reserved for the BN chairman.

Tremendous mental strain
Flanked by former MIC vice-president S Sothinathan, Samy Vellu expressed regret over the turn of events, but stressed that his action had no bearing on Palanivel's fate.

“Yes, that was a mistake (to jump the gun). I had told the prime minister (Najib Tun Razak, who is also the BN chairman) this. When you are in the wrong, admit it quick and empathatically. It was a very costly mistake as well.

“If I had not done that, we could have got things through much easily,” he said.

On the speculation that he had done this deliberately to “kill off” Palanivel in order to pave the way for Sothinathan to ascend to the number two spot, Samy Vellu quipped, “Yes. I admit. I did it.”

This prompted Sothinathan to clarify, just to be on the safe side, that the president was only joking.

Sothinathan had gone against Samy Vellu, whom he described as his mentor, to contest against Palanivel for the deputy presidency in last year's party election.

The master and disciple have since patched up, leading some to believe that a new pact had been formed to annihilate Palanivel, whose ties with Samy Vellu is said to be on rocky ground.

Elaborating, Samy Vellu said he underwent tremendous mental strain by putting up Palanivel (left) as the party's choice for the by-election.

“I had quarelled with so many people. When the deputy prime minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) called to tell me who is the candidate, there was virtually a lot of arguments.

“I stuck to him. Nope! No one else, except Palanivel... I have not seen any BN chairman overrule the president's choice... we always maintained independence in the selection of party candidates.”

Asked if the Hulu Selangor by-election had witnessed MIC losing this “independence”, he said: “I can't say that we have lost our independence. MIC still has the independence to fight (for the candidate of its choice) and finally get its way.”

When it was pointed out that in this case, MIC did not get what it wanted, the party president stressed that the main question here was not the candidate, but winning the seat.

“A lot of questions were raised on whether we can win the seat or not,” he said.

Palanivel would have lost?
Samy Vellu also dismissed the allegation that Umno had arm-twisted its component partner into dropping Palanivel.

“That is the view of the opposition. I don't feel that way,” he laughed.

“Najib is the prime minister, the number one man in the country. He can say 'I want this man, I don't want any change'. I would have said, 'Bye-bye sir'. And that would have been the end.

“But the moment I proposed another man, he agreed and stuck to the candidate,” he added, denying talk that Kamalanathan is more of an Umno candidate.

“He is an MIC candidate, (V) Mugilan is the Umno candidate,” he said in reference to the Hulu Selangor MIC Youth chief who was touted as Umno's preferred choice.

In view of this, Samy Vellu indicated that the decision to drop Palanivel was made in order to win back the seat from PKR.

“I submitted Palanivel's name, but the PM said clearly that he had received reports (from the ground) on the minds of the people in this constituency.

“These reports stated what percentage of the people here supported him (Palanivel) and did not support him,” he said.

Asked why Palanivel's support had dwindled despite winning with thumping majorities in the past, Samy Vellu believes that it was due to the anger which still lingered from the 2008 general election.

He, however, denied that his deputy had failed to render service to his constituents in the past as alleged by some quarters.

“If he did not service his constituency, I don't think he would have smashed the PAS candidate in the 2004 general election,” he said.

“For four terms,” Sothinathan chipped in. “He (Palanivel) has been here since 1990.”

On opposition from local Umno leaders towards Palanivel, Samy Vellu said they preferred someone who would be closer to them.

The MIC president reiterated that he had insisted on BN fielding Palanivel, but Najib had told him the “conditions were bad; if he (Palanivel) goes again, he would lose. We want to win this election.”

“After (the PM said this), I categorically objected to Mugilan (being named as the candidate),” he added.

Two names proposed
Najib had then asked the MIC president to propose other names, and Samy Vellu mentioned two – secretary-general S Murugesan and Kamalanathan (photo).

As for Murugesan, Samy Vellu said he was worried that certain quarters would object on the grounds that he was defeated in the 2008 general election for the Subang parliamentary seat.

“These days, (to contest) in an election, you must be fresh and new,” he said. “So I proposed Kamalanathan, and the PM immediately agreed.”

As for Palanivel, Samy Vellu said his deputy would not be left out. “We would make him a senator, and he would be going for a government post.”

Speculation is rife that Palanivel would be made a deputy minister, but it is said that the MIC deputy president had wanted to re-enter the corridors of power by winning an election and not through the back door.

Commenting on this, Samy Vellu said: “If you yourself attempt to go through the back door, that is a very bad policy. But if somebody provides you something, that is a different issue.”

The MIC president also denied that the candidate fiasco had strained ties between him and his deputy.

“I told Palanivel, let this election be over. If you want to take over MIC the next day, I will resign and go... you take over the party, you take over everything. I will just go away somewhere, stay at home and don't do any other work,” he said.

Samy Vellu also does not believe that Palanivel's position in the party would be jeopardised by this episode.

“It won't. Because before we go for the next party election, the general election will come. He has the opportunity to contest a chosen seat,” he said.