He insists he’ll debate on Interlok only with Palanivel or Subra.
PETALING JAYA: Perak DAP vice-chairman A Sivanesan is insisting on a debate with a top MIC leader on the Interlok controversy, saying he has no time for “mosquitoes” such as KP Samy.
Samy, a former member of the MIC central working committee and a coordinator of the now defunct Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu (GAS), yesterday offered to take up Sivanesan’s debate challenge and said he would even finance the session.
Sivanesan said today that he directed his challenge at MIC president G Palanivel and his deputy, Dr S Subramaniam.
He called Samy a “zero” in MIC politics, adding: “I am not going to waste my time with mosquitoes. He is not even an MIC member. It’s either Palanivel or Subramaniam or no one else.”
In his statement yesterday, Samy said he would accept Sivanesan’s challenge on condition that he bring to the debate a statement from the Pakatan Rakyat leadership calling for a ban on Interlok, which the government has decided to keep as a literature text for Form Five students.
Sivanesan said the Pakatan leadership had already called for the removal of the book from schools.
“If he had attended any one of our functions, he would have noticed that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had called for the book to be withdrawn,” he said.
A government-appointed committee recently amended Interlok to remove derogatory references to Malaysian Indians, but some groups have said the modification did not go far enough.
Last March 24, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told Parliament that the novel would remain in schools. He said MIC had agreed to the amendments.
PETALING JAYA: Perak DAP vice-chairman A Sivanesan is insisting on a debate with a top MIC leader on the Interlok controversy, saying he has no time for “mosquitoes” such as KP Samy.Samy, a former member of the MIC central working committee and a coordinator of the now defunct Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu (GAS), yesterday offered to take up Sivanesan’s debate challenge and said he would even finance the session.
Sivanesan said today that he directed his challenge at MIC president G Palanivel and his deputy, Dr S Subramaniam.
He called Samy a “zero” in MIC politics, adding: “I am not going to waste my time with mosquitoes. He is not even an MIC member. It’s either Palanivel or Subramaniam or no one else.”
In his statement yesterday, Samy said he would accept Sivanesan’s challenge on condition that he bring to the debate a statement from the Pakatan Rakyat leadership calling for a ban on Interlok, which the government has decided to keep as a literature text for Form Five students.
Sivanesan said the Pakatan leadership had already called for the removal of the book from schools.
“If he had attended any one of our functions, he would have noticed that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had called for the book to be withdrawn,” he said.
A government-appointed committee recently amended Interlok to remove derogatory references to Malaysian Indians, but some groups have said the modification did not go far enough.
Last March 24, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told Parliament that the novel would remain in schools. He said MIC had agreed to the amendments.
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