MIC president S Samy Vellu said his party's election machinery has managed to make significant inroads in estates located in Bagan Pinang, where a by-election will take place on Oct 11.

According to him, MIC wanted to ensure its pledge of delivering as many Indian votes to the Barisan Nasional.

bagan pinang by-election 071009 samy vellu visit 03 He said since nomination day last Saturday, almost 1,000 party members, including from the Youth, Wanita, Puteri and Putera wings "literally camped" at the predominantly Indian populated estates.

"We have maintained our position in the estates even before nomination day and have assured the Indian voters (in the estates) that the government will continue to bring changes and progress to them," he told reporters after concluding another day of six straight hours of campaigning in Bagan Pinang last night.

The Bagan Pinang state constituency, which is under the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency, has 20 percent or 2,834 Indian voters who are mostly concentrated in the four estates namely Bradwell, Atherthon, Siliau and Sua Betong.

Samy Vellu said his confidence of Indian voters' support for the BN candidate Isa Samad would be further strengthened by Human Resources Minister and MIC vice-president Dr S Subramaniam's scheduled announcement tomorrow on his (Subramaniam's) meeting with officials of Sime Darby which owns the four estates.

Subramaniam had said that he would announce details of his discussions with the plantation giant last Monday on the solutions to many of the estate workers' woes.

Voters want their rights to be protected

Samy Vellu who is leading the MIC charge in Bagan Pinang, admitted that Indian voters are not only concerned with developments but also wanted their rights to be protected by the government.

azlan "We have held several discussions with the residents in the estates and they are happy with the initiatives being taken by our prime minister.

"They are very clear now. They know for a fact that the government has taken steps to bring progress to the Indian community and it can only continue if BN is given a stronger mandate," he said.

Samy Vellu said other MIC leaders like deputy president G Palanivel and minister Subramaniam who have also been campaigning daily, managed to "break the barrier" with the Indian voters since the last general election where many of them had supported the PAS candidate.

"The environment and mood among the Indian voters is now different compared the last general election," he said.

He said MIC expected a big turnout at the party's Deepavali open house tomorrow (Thursday) at 8pm at the Sua Betong estate.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin would be among top BN leaders expected to attend the open house.

"The entire BN machinery has worked well and cooperated with each other in ensuring a victory for BN," he added.