Samy Vellu under fire again ...

(Malaysian Mirror) - MIC president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu today came under criticism from several delegates who debated on the presidential speech, during the second day of the party's annual general meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

A delegate from Selangor said the party president had sent a birthday card to a branch leader who had already died about four years ago.

According to Bernama, The delegate said the wife of the deceased had approched him expressing regret that Samy Vellu had sent such a card and asked that the party president avoided doing such things in the future.

Another delegate from Kubang Pasu, Kedah said that it took nine years for the Indian community there to buy a piece of land to build a Tamil school and had approached Samy Vellu for financial assistance to built it.

Buah Pala issue angers Samy

However, he said that despite sending letters and meeting Samy Vellu three times, nothing positive had come from Samy Vellu so far.

Another Kedah delegate pointed out that the root causes of the Kampung Buah Pala problem in Pennag was due to the "failure" of the MIC leadership to address the issue from the beginning.

This prompted Samy Vellu to challenge the delegate to prove his allegations, saying that he (Samy Vellu) was willing to resign from party post if the delegate could prove them.

Another delegate said that while the influenza A(HINI) pandemic was new -- affecting the country for the past several months, neverthless, he said it had "affected" MIC since March 8 2008, when the party went through the most humiliating defeat in its 63-year history.

Meanwhile, despite Dr Mahathir Mohamad's strong denial that he had interfered in the affairs of MIC, he too came under fire from several delegates.

"No need for advice" said one delegate from Negeri Sembilan and another had this to say: "Please mind your own business. We know what we are doing".

A woman delegate asked the party to come out with a new design for their uniform for offical use during party function, as they had been using the current outdated design for the past 10 years, and Samy Vellu said that a new design was in the planning.

'Don't praise Samy too much'

Another woman delegate urged delegatse not to praise too much Samy Vellu and other leaders as all praise belonged to the God.

"MIC members should discard this attitude...it is a bad habit," she said.

A delagate from the Klang Valley said that the government should come out with financial assistance to help the Indian community to buy unit trust shares offered by the government.

Several delegates also reminded the new team whivh won yesterday's party election to go to the ground and strengthen the party at all levels, and respect the grassroots in order to bring back support from the Indian community.

Permanent Chairman G.Vadiveloo also had a "rough day" as he had to keep reminding delegates to concentrate on the debate and not on reading newspapers inside the hall.

A delegate from Pahang who supported the 1Malaysia concept introduced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that any future leaders of Malaysia should continue to promote this concept as it would ensure Barisan Nasional's rule in this country for many decades to come.

A woman delegate from Shah Alam expressed dissapointment that despite attending four MIC conventions, she observed delegates asking the same questions and raising the same issues, and urged them to change their mindset and also respect Samy Vellu, describing him like a "father" for everyone in the MIC.