Samy to delegates: Reject part-timers

MIC president S Samy Vellu moved into his final lap of a nationwide party election campaign in Penang with an appeal to delegates to elect “team players” and rid the party of “part-time leaders”.

“We must not elect leaders who will only come to the MIC headquarters (in Kuala Lumpur) just to spend an hour or so to sign documents and cheques.

“We need to elect a team of service-oriented, capable and dedicated leaders who can serve the Indian community and realize their aspirations,” he told some 70 MIC delegates from Penang at a dinner last night.

Penang was his penultimate stop in a gruelling two weeks nationwide tour to introduce his team of candidates to the delegates. His last stop in his nationwide campaign trail will take him to Negeri Sembilan tonight.

Samy Vellu named his “Presidential Team” which included incumbent G Palanivel for the post of deputy president and three new faces for the three post of vice-presidents, namely Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam, Deputy Minister in the PM’s Department SK Devamany and Federal Territories Deputy Minister M Saravanan.

Palanivel is challenged by former deputy president S Subramaniam and vice-president S Sothinathan.

He also named a 27 member team for the 23 Central Working Committee (CWC) for the Sept 12 MIC elections. A total of 1,464 delegates would vote in the elections, described by Samy Vellu as “the most crucial elections”.

This isn’t an entertainment club

Half-way through his speech, an unidentified delegate stood up and said: “Datuk Seri (Samy Vellu), do not worry. We will elect the team you have picked. Don’t worry. We are with you all the way,” to which Samy Vellu replied with a “thank you”.

As he continued with his speech in English and Tamil, he felt irritated with the ringing tones of some of the delegates’ mobile phones, and appealed to them to put them on silent mode so as not to interrupt his thoughts.

He continued his speech by taking to task certain party leaders who regarded the MIC as “an entertainment club seeking only to glorify themselves”.

“There is no place for anyone with this kind of thinking. I have presented to you a team of leaders who have proven track record and are holding government posts,” he said.

With just 12 days to go before the delegates cast their votes, Samy Vellu urged them to think carefully before picking their candidates.

“Do you want the MIC to be further hammered in the next general election,” he asked. The party took a severe beating in the last general election where it lost six out of nine parliamentary and 12 out of 19 state seats. Heavy losers include Samy Vellu, Palanivel and Sothinathan.

Samy Vellu said he had worked out a formula where he and Palanivel would concentrate on the political front while Subramaniam, Devamany and Saravanan would implement the party’s policies and programs with the help of the government.

“Let us not lose sight of our struggle. Let us put aside our personal interest and agenda and look at the future of the party and the Indian community,” he added.