FMT, Tue, 01 Jun 2010
Tamil Nesan 01062010
Tamil Nesan 01062010
Tamil Nesan
The campaign, spearheaded by former MIC Youth deputy chief V Mugilan, should leave the community out of the picture as the aim of GAS is to oust a party leader and not someone elected by the community. 
"Samy Vellu was elected democratically by MIC members. Gathering some 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 people just does not serve the purpose.
“Naturally, the party president must be removed using the democratic process, which is either through elections or a motion of no confidence," a political analyst, who did not want to be named, told FMT.
He said if GAS was true to its cause, then it should "attack" the 4,500 MIC branch chairmen, who would vote if there was a contest for the party's top post.
Failing this, they only need to get some 300 branches to come out in the open and ask for the president to step down.
This would carry more weight than gathering people who had been sacked from the party like what happened last Sunday, the analyst added.
Push for an EGM
He said an alternative would be to mount a silent campaign among the party's central working committee (CWC) members who can table a motion for an extraordinary general assembly (EGM), with the aim of passing a no-confidence motion against the long serving MIC chief.
The analyst said the party constitution also allows CWC members, based on a majority vote, to call for fresh presidential election, whereby a new party head could be elected.
He said the signature campaign and various other methods proposed by GAS leaders would have minimal impact on Samy Vellu and "from the looks of it, they are more interested in tarnishing his image than removing him as president".
The GAS gathering began after the sacking of three CWC members -- Mugilan, KP Samy and G Kumar Amman -- and Petaling Jaya Selatan division chief V Subramaniam popularly known as Barat Maniam.
Samy Vellu sacked the four grassroots leaders for asking him to step down earlier than September, 2011, a date proposed by the president.
Subsequently, Samy Vellu also relieved party secretray-general S Murugesan from his duties after the latter held a press conference to say that he did not agree with the sacking of the four leaders.
Sandal backfires
The political analyst also said the incident where a man had hit Samy Vellu's picture with a sandal, photographed and published in all newspapers, had also "backfired" on the movement.
"Whatever said and done, the Indian community does not see this in good light. The community is rich in culture and tradition. When you see someone using a sandal to hit the photograph of a 74-year-old man, automatically the sympathy swings,” he added.
There are murmurs in the community that while it was right to call for the resignation of Samy Vellu, who had served as president since 1979, it must, however, be done with some decorum without having to disgrace the leader.
"Yes, the community prefers that he goes. But they do not like to see him disgraced. This is the culture. Do not disgrace your elders,” he said.
Is MIC relevant?
Another point raised is, is the community really perturbed by what is happening in the party, or is MIC and its leaders -- past, present and future -- simply not relevant?
Apart from pockets of Indians being active players in the tussle, the majority is silent.
"Yes, the community is watching... but is not doing anything because it does not want to do anything. It feels very detached from the party. This begs another question: is the party losing its relevance? I feel it (losing its relevance) had started just before the 2008 general election.
"At that time the party wanted to reinvent itself to be more relevant to the Indian community, but this has not happened and the community continues to stray further from MIC," the political analyst added.
He said GAS needs to work out a "workable and practical" plan to oust the battle-hardened Samy Vellu.
"Samy Vellu was elected democratically by MIC members. Gathering some 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 people just does not serve the purpose.“Naturally, the party president must be removed using the democratic process, which is either through elections or a motion of no confidence," a political analyst, who did not want to be named, told FMT.
He said if GAS was true to its cause, then it should "attack" the 4,500 MIC branch chairmen, who would vote if there was a contest for the party's top post.
Failing this, they only need to get some 300 branches to come out in the open and ask for the president to step down.
This would carry more weight than gathering people who had been sacked from the party like what happened last Sunday, the analyst added.
Push for an EGM
He said an alternative would be to mount a silent campaign among the party's central working committee (CWC) members who can table a motion for an extraordinary general assembly (EGM), with the aim of passing a no-confidence motion against the long serving MIC chief.
The analyst said the party constitution also allows CWC members, based on a majority vote, to call for fresh presidential election, whereby a new party head could be elected.
He said the signature campaign and various other methods proposed by GAS leaders would have minimal impact on Samy Vellu and "from the looks of it, they are more interested in tarnishing his image than removing him as president".
The GAS gathering began after the sacking of three CWC members -- Mugilan, KP Samy and G Kumar Amman -- and Petaling Jaya Selatan division chief V Subramaniam popularly known as Barat Maniam.
Samy Vellu sacked the four grassroots leaders for asking him to step down earlier than September, 2011, a date proposed by the president.
Subsequently, Samy Vellu also relieved party secretray-general S Murugesan from his duties after the latter held a press conference to say that he did not agree with the sacking of the four leaders.
Sandal backfires
The political analyst also said the incident where a man had hit Samy Vellu's picture with a sandal, photographed and published in all newspapers, had also "backfired" on the movement."Whatever said and done, the Indian community does not see this in good light. The community is rich in culture and tradition. When you see someone using a sandal to hit the photograph of a 74-year-old man, automatically the sympathy swings,” he added.
There are murmurs in the community that while it was right to call for the resignation of Samy Vellu, who had served as president since 1979, it must, however, be done with some decorum without having to disgrace the leader.
"Yes, the community prefers that he goes. But they do not like to see him disgraced. This is the culture. Do not disgrace your elders,” he said.
Is MIC relevant?
Another point raised is, is the community really perturbed by what is happening in the party, or is MIC and its leaders -- past, present and future -- simply not relevant?
Apart from pockets of Indians being active players in the tussle, the majority is silent.
"Yes, the community is watching... but is not doing anything because it does not want to do anything. It feels very detached from the party. This begs another question: is the party losing its relevance? I feel it (losing its relevance) had started just before the 2008 general election.
"At that time the party wanted to reinvent itself to be more relevant to the Indian community, but this has not happened and the community continues to stray further from MIC," the political analyst added.
He said GAS needs to work out a "workable and practical" plan to oust the battle-hardened Samy Vellu.
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