Presidential witch-hunt in MIC

By M Kumaran - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: Barely days after announcing that he would step down "eight or nine months" before his terms ends in the first quarter of 2012, long-serving MIC supremo S Samy Vellu has once again wielded his "sacking" wand.

Yesterday, Samy Vellu, who has been president since 1979, sacked V Mugilan, the party deputy youth chief, for alledgedly working against the interest of the party, just 24-hours after the youth leader called on Samy Vellu to resign to ensure the survival of MIC.

Mugilan, the MIC chief claimed, had worked against the interest of MIC at the recently concluded Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election.

Prior to this, the 74-year-old leader sacked Petaling Jaya Selatan division head V Subramaniam, better known as Barat Maniam, after the latter criticised Samy Vellu over the awarding of senatorships, claiming that he was promised a senator post by Samy Vellu but was overlooked time and time again.

Subramaniam, a vocal critic of the MIC president, is planning to appeal against the expulsion verdict.

The boil in the party came about soon after Samy Vellu's "power transition" announcement with rumblings starting from the grassroots, that he should quit sooner and allow current deputy president G Palanivel to take the helm of the 630,000-member party.

While grassroots leaders have made their intentions known, the MIC top brass seems to be solidly behind the party's number one man.

Palanivel and the three elected vice-presidents (Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam, Federal Territory and Urban Well-being Deputy Minister M Saravanan and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's department SK Devamany) have all backed the MIC president's formula on the transition of power in the party.

'Taking care of their rice bowl'

Party leaders revealed that while all these leaders and many more MIC central working committee members had backed the president's plan, it was however not done in all sincerity.

"They were each asked to issue press statements to that effect (to back Samy Vellu) by his son Vell Paari. He called each and every one of them to tell them to support the father's statement.

"They know that if they do not follow the son's orders, then he would run to the father and report and then these leaders would have to face the wrath of the old man. All the statements supporting Samy Vellu is only published in Tamil papers," said an MIC CWC leader, who declined to be named.

He said the Tamil Nesan, a Tamil vernacular daily owned by the MIC president's family, was used to publish these statements, to show that Samy Vellu was still needed by MIC and the 1.8 million Indian Malaysian community.

“These leaders know that Umno is watching over them. They hold government positions and know very well that Umno wants Samy Vellu out. Now they are threading a dangerous path. They only use Tamil papers to issue statements supporting Samy Vellu.

"They do not want to be embrassed when they face their Umno counterparts. Using other media would certainly show that they are only showing support to Samy Vellu because they want to hold on to their posts. They are taking care of their own rice bowl," he added.

Is Dr Subra the next president?

Meanwhile, a political observer questioned Samy Vellu's decision to stay on further.

He said Samy Vellu could hand over the reigns of the party to Palanivel "anytime" as the deputy president himself had declared that he was ready to take over.

Palanivel had said this soon after the Hulu Selangor by-election results were announced in response to Samy Vellu's earlier statement in FMT that he was willing to hand over MIC "even tomorrow" to his deputy.

"He needs the time... he is just starting another political chess game. The man who would take over is not Palanivel, it would be Dr Subramaniam. Samy Vellu needs time for this. He would slowly start edging out Palanivel. The worst case scenario would be to sack Palanivel.

"Another point is that he is almost certain that Vell Paari would face the axe if Palanivel is to take over. But if it was Dr Subramaniam, then Paari is certain to land a position in the party.

"Samy Vellu also has to ensure that his son is kept in the higher circles of the party after he retires. But he has to remember that MIC belongs to its members and not his family. Paari must start surviving without Samy Vellu.

"He needs to have his own support base...not his father's (support). He must work towards this and then mount a challenge based on his support,” he said.

“Giving Vell Paari posts will not make him a good leader or politician, he must fight like the rest and gain the respect of the community in order to succeed in politics," said the observer.

He said handing over the party to a new leader only "eight to nine months" before party elections would not give the new leader enough time to prepare himself in case of any challenge from former deputy president S Subramaniam.

"Samy Vellu knows that too. Palanivel cannot take on Subramaniam without Samy Vellu's help. But it is not in the case of Dr Subramaniam. He can stand alone especially being a minister and all," said the observer.

Samy Vellu's announcement on the power transfer had raised various other questions as well. One of the most pertinent is that the MIC president has yet to name Palanivel as his successor.

Previously, former MIC vice-president KS Nijhar expressed confident that Palanivel would be the next to helm the party.

Sources close to Palanivel have also rubbished claims that ties between the top two leaders have soured, saying that the transition plan from number one to number two would be smooth.