Is Samy still king?
By P. Gunasegaram, The Star
If he still is, he is in danger of losing his kingdom, if he has not lost it already.
AN EASIER way for politicians in Malaysia to remain in power rather than go to the ground to seek community support is simply to control party delegates – the kingmakers.
That has often led to a situation where leaders of political parties, because of the support they command by various means from their delegates, can continue to rule the roost even if they don’t enjoy the support of the masses.
The rude awakening comes at the general election, and come it did in March 2008.
As a direct result of that, the leaders of both Umno and the MCA stepped aside to make way for new blood to prepare for a revival of their parties.
But not in the MIC. Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu lost his own Parliamentary seat – unlike the other two leaders who won – and unlike the other two, clung on desperately, dubiously claiming support from within his party and his desire to reform the party.
He was returned as MIC party president earlier this year without an election as his only challenger was disqualified.
He promised to step down soon after a deputy president was elected but now says he will stay on until 2012 when his term expires, or even beyond.
He did not stay independent in the recent party polls as would have befitted an elder statesman who has been at the helm of the party for 30 years and one who is, by his own admission, helping to pave the way for the next generation.
Instead, he endorsed a list of candidates.
He and his supporters now claim that the recent party polls for deputy president, vice presidents and central working committee seats endorse him, but the figures don’t show that.
When compared with the 2006 polls, it indicates an unmistakable drop in support for the president’s man, deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel, who beat former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam with an 82-vote majority in the recent polls.
Palanivel polled 629 votes against Subramaniam’s 547 votes.
Former party vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan, an old Samy Vellu ally, polled 280 votes.
The sum total of Subramaniam’s and Sothinathan’s votes come up to 827, or 198 votes more than Palanivel’s; the president’s man was not even a favourite of the majority.
In contrast, the 2006 elections saw Palanivel trounce Subramaniam with a 438-vote majority in a straight fight.
Palanivel polled 933 votes against Subramaniam’s 495.
If Palanivel is a proxy for Samy Vellu, then the latter’s support has waned enormously over the last three years.
A question is, if Sothinathan had not stood for the deputy president’s position and effectively split the votes, would Subramaniam still have lost or would he have managed to win?
The conspiracy theorists have come out with a scenario – that Sothinathan was put in the race to split the dissident votes against Samy Vellu and thereby helped to ensure that Samy Vellu’s man came through.
Whatever the truth, there is serious doubt whether Samy Vellu actually commands majority support even among the delegates, let alone the Indian community.
Anecdotally, the community is rather galled that he continues to remain MIC president after leading the party to its largest ever loss in the 2008 general elections.
Samy Vellu supporters may want to point to the vice-presidential elections as support for him.
Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam came out tops in that fight among seven candidates.
The other two who won were Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk S.K. Devamany and Federal Territories Deputy Minister Datuk M. Saravanan.
Dr Subramaniam polled 1,260 votes, Devamany 1,122 and Saravanan 1,030.
Other candidates were Datuk S. Balakrishnan (471 votes), Datuk V.K.K. Teagarajan (215), P. Subramaniam (471) and P. Mariayee (61).
The three who won needed no endorsement from Samy Vellu.
Being MIC’s only minister and deputy ministers, it was a foregone conclusion that they would win handsomely, and they did with thumping majorities.
Samy Vellu may or may not be king but that does not matter much anymore.
It’s the kingdom that counts.
If he can’t get the things for his subjects – the Indians in Malaysia – he has failed, even if Barisan Nasional is equally or even more to blame.
By staying on after he has failed – he lost his own Parliamentary seat, he has not been able to convince Barisan of the serious problems facing the Indians, and he has been ineffectual in raising Indian issues – he puts his own power above that of the needs of Indians.
That selfishness is going to cost the Indians – and the MIC – very dearly.
> Managing Editor P. Gunasegaram finds it ironic that the MIC is limiting its presidents to three terms – after just allowing the current president another term, his 11th consecutive.
