MIC should call Samy’s bluff

By Joe Fernandez - Free Malaysia Today,

COMMENT MIC president S Samy Vellu, in a completely new spin, now wants to hand over “a stable and strong party” to his successor. So, he has worked out a complete imaginary overhaul of the party leadership and machinery from top to bottom, inside out. Not that anyone wants even a real shake-up at this stage from him of all people.
This is not the first time that Samy Vellu has announced such a grand plan. The last time it was all about re-branding MIC. This was in the wake of the political tsunami unleashed by the 2008 general election, in which MIC received a drubbing.

Talk is cheap. But that’s what kept Samy Vellu going all those years until the political tsunami swept him away from Sungai Siput.

If Samy Vellu had any sense of dignity and responsibility, he would have resigned on the spot as MIC president. Or, he could have taken former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s advice and committed harakiri.

Again, Samy Vellu is selling the same shake-up plan with a straight face, his eyes unblinking, lest he inadvertently betray any hidden agenda through body language.

All this talk from Samy Vellu implies that the party is not as strong or as stable as he has been claiming all these years. This makes us wonder what exactly he has been doing during the last 30-odd years at the helm of the party.

Why is all this sudden burst of uneconomic energy coming from a man who has already announced, again with a straight face that he will be quitting eight or nine months before his term ends in May 2012?

Did Samy Vellu consult G Palanivel, the president-in-waiting, and secure his co-operation for the proposed shake-up? This is highly unlikely considering that Samy Vellu is yet to even lay his announced retirement before the party’s Central Working Committee for its endorsement. His escape clause hinges on not informing the CWC. The proposed retirement may yet be an empty promise.

Samy Vellu must know that it’s only a matter of time before he’s bundled off, one way or another, into the sunset of political oblivion.

From political actor to kingmaker
Samy Vellu's fallback position may be to go from being the political actor to kingmaker in the style of China’s Deng Xiaoping. Hence his inspiration for a MIC shake-up, which could well be a euphemism for a purge.

On the brighter side, Samy Vellu may as usual simply continue to do nothing. Samy Vellu is not the only one noted for this. PBS President Joseph Pairin Kitingan is notorious for not making any decisions whatsoever. He listens, nods gravely, and then does nothing.

But Samy Vellu has gone one up on Pairin. The MIC leader is noted for staged theatrics in which those around him are roped in as well to play their respective roles according to a certain well-worn script that now fools no one. The result is that those who see him to get his assistance on anything go away empty-handed but with a feeling of immense Tamilian pride that they have seen the great man himself. It takes a while before they realise that they have been taken for a ride.

Unlike Pairin, Samy Vellu is hysterical with laughter after his visitors leave. He’s always amazed at how gullible people can be. This is what convinced him in the first place that he would have a great career in politics, at least for himself.

MIC members and leaders should not assume that Samy Vellu is crying wolf as usual. He may not be uttering the threat of a shake-up just to cow the party into submission in the wake of the GAS (Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu) attack on him.

They should play safe and launch a pre-emptive strike by revamping GAS into something more effective, like the Red Shirts Movement of Thailand, and give him the Marcos treatment. Just 3,500 GAS members at his Kuala Lumpur house will do the trick. They can don saffron-coloured shirts, for example, and not budge from around his house until he agrees to step down immediately.

Force is the language that Samy Vellu employs. MIC members should know where Samy Vellu is coming from. He did not hesitate to call in some rough help in those days when chair-throwing and helmet attacks were deemed necessary during MIC and Maika gatherings.

Palanivel must make a stand
It may not have to even come to brute force if Palanivel has what it takes. All he has to do is imitate Mahathir, who sent his predecessor packing by cleaning out his office when the latter was away in London for medical treatment.

Mahathir’s unique approach to the succession problem is something that former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam never learnt even after 20-odd years. He remained the ever-faithful number two who was always accused by Samy Vellu of being disloyal and plotting a coup d’ etat.

Palanivel is new and should learn this lesson quickly or risk getting thrown out like Subramaniam. By now, Palanivel should have realised that he doesn’t really need Samy Vellu to prop him up.

If Palanivel, MIC leaders and members continue to sit on their collective behinds over Samy Vellu, the opposition alliance can thank their lucky stars. Their road to Putrajaya is more certain than ever.