Indian votes will swing unless...

Barisan Nasional (BN) risks losing Indian votes in the coming general election unless it employs drastic measures, warned a veteran MIC leader.

The first step in untangling this political quagmire is for party president S Samy Vellu to step down.

Without mincing his words, the former MIC central working committee (CWC) member declared that Samy Vellu has become a liability to the ruling coalition.

"Is one man more important than the community?" This is the question posed by KP Samy during an interview with Malaysiakini recently.

"If the government feels it needs the community and is concerned about the community, then please talk to this leader. Enough, he has already been there for 28 years."

"The Indians were loyal supporters of BN. The government could not question our sincerity, so why did the government leave us in the hands of this leadership?" he asked further.

While the Nov 25 rally - which drew some 30,000 Indian Malaysians to the streets - was organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), Samy suggested that MIC also played a major role.

According to the Shah Bandaraya MIC branch chairperson, vexed Indian Malaysians swarmed the heart of Kuala Lumpur on that day because of the "total failure of the MIC leadership."

Samy, who is a strong supporter of the MIC president's ex-deputy turned political nemesis S Subramaniam, said: "Many Indians on the street feel that Samy Vellu has failed the community."

"We expected him to resign after Nov 25 by accepting that Indians came to the street because they were fed-up, frustrated and disappointed.

"Ninety percent of the people took to the streets because their expectations and requests were not fulfilled, the government gave us (aid) to a certain extent, but (this) never reached the poor," he added.

Temple demolition

Samy also blamed the MIC president for the incident, which many see as the catalyst behind the Hindraf rally - the demolition of a temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam.

A clash erupted between local residents and enforcement authorities when the latter moved in on Oct 30 to tear down the 100-year-old temple.

The demolition which took place just a week before the Hindu festival of Deepavali was viewed as an insensitive act and riled up the community.

"We felt that what the (state) government did (the demolition) was wrong, but (Selangor) MB (Dr Mohd Khir Toyo) later explained that the root problem was MIC.

"The MB said 'we allocated the land and gave RM40,000' (for the temple's relocation)," said Samy, adding that a state MIC leader appointed by the party president had allegedly "failed" and this paved the way for the crisis.

(This state leader allegedly did not inform the temple committee regarding the land and allocation for the relocation)

"So who do we blame?" asked Samy (photo). "Can Samy Vellu run away and say he is not answerable. You selected (the leader), (he is) your leader, and he failed."

Samy also said the government should be thankful to the five Hindraf leaders, who have since been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), and the protesters for bringing the plight of the Indians to its attention.

Until the Nov 25 rally, he added, the government was under the impression that the Indian community is well taken care of.

"Now the government is worried about Indian votes, the government is to be blamed because they listened to Samy Vellu who said that Indian votes are in his pocket.

"By keeping him, protecting him and saying that he has done his duty, the losers will be the government and the Indian community," he stressed.

In view of this, Samy called on the MIC president to step down or at least set a retirement date.

The party veteran felt this will assuage the anger of the Indian community to a certain extent and help BN regain some lost ground.

'Not allowed to work'

On the MIC front, the branch leader accused the president of not allowing capable leaders to perform because of political differences.

Citing himself as an example, Samy claimed that he was 'victimised' because of his close ties to Subramaniam.

"Another sad part about MIC is that its leaders are not created but controlled, the president endorses candidates right from the deputy president to CWC.

"Proposing is one thing, but he goes to the field and threatens the delegates and insists that his line-up should win," he said.

"So this created a vacuum, we cannot identify any capable leader after Samy Vellu," he said, adding that deputy president G Palanivel and vice-president S Sothinathan lack support from the grassroots.

On that note, Samy stressed that Subramaniam, who lost to Palanivel during the 2006 party elections, is a competent leader.

The MIC leadership should recognise this and consider bringing him and his supporters back into the fold, he said.

"Though he is not in a position of taking over at this time, I believe Subramaniam is the best leader at this point to lead the community

"Even if he sits in office for a short term, he can manage things well for the community," he added.

Samy claimed that since the MIC president "did not allow others, including Subramaniam, to work" he should stop blaming branch leaders for the party's woes.

He challenged Samy Vellu to reveal how effectively the party's CWC sub-committees - involving leaders of his choice - have performed or contributed.

"Do you have the records, can you show it to the press?" he asked.

Maika's failure

Samy also criticised MIC's investment arm Maika Holdings for failing to uplift the economic status of the Indian community despite the government giving it 'quality stocks'.

"If managed well, Maika should have become a billion dollar company. Now his (Samy Vellu's) son (Vel Paari) is the CEO, when we went to (the recent AGM) to ask questions, we were blocked by gangsters.

"Now we ask the government, you are making a lot of noise saying that the (Nov 25) protestors are gangsters but what about the endorsed gangsters (at the Maika meet)?"

Samy was also unimpressed with the recent MIC gathering themed 'An evening with the prime minister' which drew thousands of Indian Malaysians which the party proclaimed demonstrated the community's undivided support for BN.

"If the authorities give a permit, we can bring 50,000 people without spending a single sen," he said, alleging that college students were among those roped in by MIC to make up the numbers.

Meanwhile, Samy disagreed with the suggestion that the sentiments generated by Hindraf are waning.

He pointed out that even when Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced a public holiday for Thaipusam at the MIC gathering, immediately the credit for this went to Hindraf.

Apart from this, he said the poor turnout at the Batu Caves temple for Thaipusam on Jan 23 also revealed that the community is still seeing red.

Asked about the criticism by certain quarters regarding the Batu Caves boycott on the grounds that it is wrong to mix politics with religion, Samy said that he too felt sad.

"Batu Caves is a symbolic place. But how else could we get the message across?" he added.

Subra loyal to BN

Samy, who describes himself as a sympathiser of the Hindraf cause, explained that there are some issues which he disagrees with such as the movement's claim that the Indians here are subjected to state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.

However, he feels that a majority of the points raised are fair and the government should pay attention to them.

He also dismissed Samy Vellu's allegation that Subramaniam is behind Hindraf, asking if the MIC president is indirectly saying that the latter can mobilise 30,000 people to take to the streets.

"Even when I got involved in bailing the Hindraf protestors, there was talk that Subramaniam's key man was involved. But I told Subramaniam that I was only involved on humane grounds."

According to him, Subramaniam also disagreed with some of the controversial points raised by Hindraf.

"He told me that he had explained to PM that not all who went to the streets agreed with all the points, but most of the points, the community felt are fair.

"Subramaniam has always been a loyal supporter of BN, there were times when he was offered seats by the opposition, but he turned this down," he added.

Not asking for much

On what the Indian Malaysian community wants, Samy stressed that educational and economic opportunities - and not public holidays - are of topmost priority.

He said the government should listen to the fair and reasonable requests, and give an undertaking that these will be implemented even after the general election.

"The Indian community is not asking for much. Education, equity, aid for tamil schools, temple issue. Calm us down, ensure that nothing goes wrong. If the government does not take care of us, who is going to take care of us?

"The government knows we are poor, take away (business tycoons) Ananda Krishnan and Tony Fernandes...our equity is below one percent. When are we going to reach three percent?

"As PM promised, in the Ninth Malaysia Plan, he is going to give and implement. Where's the indication? Is there any proof, has anything been implemented? Nothing.

"You are going to call us and ask us to vote. After elections what is going to happen? BN and the opposition are going to leave us in the dark."

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