That is MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu's reaction to our front-page report yesterday that former MIC strongman Datuk V. Govindaraj rigged the party’s 1977 polls to favour Samy Vellu.
In a letter to Malay Mail, Samy Vellu said there was no way Govindaraj could have pocketed 30 votes to allow him to defeat Subramaniam by 26 votes in the race to be MIC deputy president that year. He said he defeated Subramaniam fair and square.
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Samy Vellu said it was mathematically impossible, considering the number of votes cast in the election and the certainty that Subramaniam would have challenged the election result had he really known of the alleged fraud.
“A total of 1,080 votes were cast by delegates in the 1977 election. There were 553 votes cast in my favour and 527 votes for Datuk S. Subramaniam. I won by 26 votes.
“If Govindaraj had stolen 30 votes, it would have amounted to a total of 1,110 votes cast, which was not the case,” said Samy Vellu, adding that Subramaniam had endorsed Govindaraj’s lie in suggesting that he (Subramaniam) knew of Govindaraj’s misdeed during the 1977 election.
He said it was also simply unthinkable that Subramaniam did not challenge the election result, if it was true that the latter was aware of the alleged fraud. Samy Vellu said Govindaraj first brought up these claims in 2006, when he was sacked from MIC.
“At about the same time, the MIC elections were under way. At those elections, Datuk G. Palanivel stood against and defeated Subramaniam for the deputy presidency. These lies have now resurfaced at the current elections for the same post. I'm sure the same lies will be repeated as long as I am party president.”
He said it was also interesting to note that in 2006, Govindaraj had claimed that he had stolen and “eaten” the ballot slips during the 1977 ballot count, but has now reverted to saying that he placed the ballots in his pocket instead.
“The 1977 elections were supervised by then MIC president Tan Sri V. Manickavasagam. The people counting the votes were all appointed by the Central Working Committee. Like me, Govindaraj was just an observer and had no access to the table where the counting was done. He merely stood away from the table, watching the proceedings with me.”
Samy Vellu said it was odd that while Govindaraj had confessed his alleged wrongdoing to Subramaniam, he had not suggested that he (Samy Vellu) was a party to the alleged misdeed or that Subramaniam had informed him of the same.
He also said it was sad that Govindaraj and Subramaniam had tried to give their statements credibility by dragging the late Datuk K. Pathmanaban into the fray .
“I’m sure Pathmanaban would never have endorsed this lie. Pathmanaban and I simply parted ways because due to a momentary lapse in judgment, I picked Subramaniam over Pathmanaban for the post of Deputy Agriculture Minister after the 1990 elections.”
In the letter, Samy Vellu also lashed out at Malay Mail, saying that “it has become habitual for the author of these articles and for this particular newspaper to deride me, my community and the MIC at every given opportunity.”
He singled out Malay Mail editor-at-large Frankie D’Cruz for being responsible for taking on this role.
In our front-page report yesterday, we quoted 76-year-old Govindaraj saying that he had pocketed 30 votes meant for Subramaniam in the contest for the deputy president's post against Samy Vellu 31 years ago.
Govindaraj claimed he stole three bundles of 10 votes each from the scrutineers’ table when they were distracted by a commotion and put them in the pocket of his batik shirt.
Subramaniam ended up losing to Samy Vellu by a mere 26 votes and the latter became president when the then president Tan Sri V. Manickavasagam died in 1979.
Govindaraj, who is a former MIC vice-president, said his misdeed was done “on the spur of the moment” and was “not instigated by anyone”.
He also said he had apologised to Subramaniam and the late Datuk K. Pathmanaban the same day and that “both of them forgave me”.
In the report, Subramaniam said Govindaraj had confessed to himself and Pathmanaban about stealing the votes and that he (Subramaniam) chose not to wallow over the misfortune he suffered.
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MIC division slighted to see minister 'humiliated'
Chandran: Samy Vellu treats the minister like a schoolboy
K.S. Chandran, former MIC Hulu Selangor division chairman, said although Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, the Human Resources Minister, was party secretary-general, the MIC leadership was not giving him the due respect he deserved.
“At almost every State MIC function the minister is sidelined and not given the limelight by the party leadership,” Chandran, who is the current Bandar Utama Batang Kali branch chairman, said.
“Whenever the party president is present at any function, he hogs the limelight and the minister has to take the cue from the president to either speak or do anything,” said Chandran, who has sent a memorandum to that effect to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“When I see the minister being given the back seat, I feel very hurt because he is our only full minister in the Cabinet and the party leadership ought to treat him with more respect, not just suck up to the president.”
At the recent Selangor State MIC delegates convention, he said, the State liaison congress committees gave Subramaniam a very poor reception.
“They did not even garland him. The president, whenever he is present, treats the minister like a schoolboy who can only open his mouth when called upon by the president to answer questions from the floor or delegates.”
Chandran, who came to Malay Mail office with several members from his branch, said he had received feedback from many Indians, both inside and outside the party, expressing their disappointment at seeing Dr Subramaniam being treated like an ordinary member.
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