Subra tormentor ‘leaves’ Tamil Nesan

Tamilmani says he went to jail for Subramaniam.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Tamilmani or P. Veerasamy, the journalist who hounded former MIC deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam and his camp since March with numerous exposes of a seedy and sexual nature in the Tamil Nesan newspaper, has been given the boot, Tamil Nesan sources said.


However, supporters of Tamilmani, contacted by The Malaysian Insider, say his six-month contract with Tamil Nesan, a newspaper owned by the family of MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, had expired.

“He is leaving, not booted out,” his supporters said.

However, Klang businessman K.P. Samy, who was one of the Subramaniam supporters who came under attack by Tamilmani, said: “What we hear is that he has been sacked.”

The man who can clarify the issue, Tamil Nesan CEO Vel Paari, the son of Samy Vellu, has been in Australia for the past three months and could not be reached for comment.

Whatever the case — booted out or contract expired — Subramaniam and his camp have won a respite from the relentless attacks from Tamilmani, who was a Subramaniam supporter for 28 years but switched camp to Samy Vellu and started the daily broadsides on Subramaniam.

In an interview earlier, Tamilmani, 61, said he went to jail for Subramaniam but the former deputy never visited him in Pudu Jail or expressed gratitude for his sacrifices.

“I was angry at such ingratitude and that’s why I joined forces with Samy Vellu,” he had said.

His departure also signals an end to the war between Tamil Nesan and its rival Makkal Osai, which is owned by Subramaniam’s cronies.

Tamilmani attacked Samy Vellu throughout Subramaniam’s 28-year career as deputy MIC president.

He was jailed in 1997 for contempt of court because he continued to attack Samy Vellu as a “community thief” even after a court barred him from using those terms.

He was freed after 46 days in Pudu Jail following a successful appeal in the Court of Appeal.

After his fallout with Subramaniam, Tamilmani worked at various independent but heavily political and fortnight Tamil publications but all of them eventually shut down for lack of financial backing.

Subsequently, after the Pakatan Rakyat came to power he leaned towards the new coalition, working with several monthly newspapers but that too did not take off because of fierce competition from the three traditional Tamil dailies that dominate the small Tamil newspaper readership market.

In March, Subramaniam’s camp received a shock went Tamilmani reappeared in the Tamil political world as a special editor of Tamil Nesan that he had engaged in a war nearly all his life.

He leaves Tamil Nesan under a cloud and his supporters say he might reappear as editor-in-chief of a new Tamil daily owned by a Penang-based financial group.

But for now, Subramaniam’s camp can breathe easy.