Samy Vellu giving up saddle but not the reins

 

COMMENTARY, Dec 1 — Outgoing MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is expected to take a leaf out of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s playbook by anointing his own successor in order to maintain control after he retires.

The MIC veteran, who is handing over the reins of the party to deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel on Monday, appears to have not taken heed of Dr Mahathir’s follies in holding on after officially leaving.

Instead of allowing the MIC delegates decide, in a free and fair election, his successor as MIC president, Samy Vellu is orchestrating the progression and leaving “back doors” open for him to exert his influence on MIC decisions after he “retires.”

After his retirement, Dr Mahathir had tried to run the show from behind a politically weak Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but the latter’s ambitious son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, then only 29, put paid to that attempt.

In seeking to re-exert control, Dr Mahathir hobbled the Abdullah administration with massive recriminations, leading to rebellion in Umno’s ranks and Barisan Nasional/Umno nearly losing power to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in the 2008 backlash.

Dr Mahathir, Umno watchers now feel, should have handed the party to the man most capable of running the party and government — Datuk Seri Najib Razak — instead of promoting Abdullah in order to pull the strings from the shadows.

Now, Samy Vellu is attempting to do the same by pitting one MIC faction against another in a divide-and-rule gambit designed to extend his hold despite officially surrendering the presidency.

What the MIC needs is a strong, decisive and imaginative leader to win back the support of the working class among the Indian community — and the only way for such a leader to emerge is through a hard, election battle.

Instead, Samy Vellu is stretching the party constitution and railroading the central working committee (CWC) — which he controls — into “appointing” Palanivel as president and his rival, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, as deputy president.

Palanivel is the elected deputy president while Dr Subramaniam is one of three elected vice-presidents.

At present, MIC’s constitution is silent on the “provisions” by which the two appointments will be made.

The party constitution allows for an “acting president option” but makes no allowances for either the president or deputy president to be appointed rather than elected.

The solution may be found in history. In 1979, Samy Vellu was deputy president when then-president Tan Sri V. Manicavasagam passed away.

Samy Vellu then became acting president until 1981, when the delegates elected him as president and Datuk S. Subramaniam as his deputy, both unopposed, in a peace deal that lasted nearly a decade.

It is unclear why this formula is not being adhered to.

Samy Vellu’s expected appointment as a special envoy to South Asia is also expected to further complicate matters for the party, as it will be seen as providing him a platform from which to “meddle” with the party and the Indian community.

There is no doubt that both Palanivel and Dr Subramaniam, the human resources minister, are political rivals and want to succeed Samy Vellu.

By appointing both as president and deputy president, not only is Samy Vellu bending the party’s rules but also postponing the inevitable clash between them.

The appointments as president and deputy president might be a show of unity for the upcoming general election, but Indian voters may no longer be so easily convinced, especially after the 2008 awakening.

A better way is to let democracy work. A free and fair election to decide the issue — as took place in MCA — would be more acceptable to the Indian community. It would strengthen the MIC and win legitimacy with Malaysians.

Another way is to help the two top leaders mend their fences and share the party presidency between them with the endorsement of the delegates.

By appointing Palanivel president and trying to appease Dr Subramaniam that he will be the “future president”, Samy Vellu is also shutting the door on his long time rival Datuk S. Subramaniam, who is once more become politically-active, now that Samy Vellu is leaving.

Subramaniam’s strategy is to align with Palanivel against Dr Subramaniam, in the hopes to riding back into a MIC without Samy Vellu.

In or out of MIC, Samy Vellu has the capacity to influence its course, although he has promised not to interfere in the party’s affairs.

Although he relinquishes control of MIC on Monday, this is not the last of Samy Vellu.