I am not Samy Vellu, says new MIC president

Palanivel said he could not be Samy Vellu. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Newly crowned MIC president Senator Datuk Seri G. Palanivel today sought to distance himself from his predecessor, as he begins the party’s preparation for the 13th general election.

Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu resigned today after almost 31 years at the head of MIC, bringing an end to a reign which had divided the Indian community.

“Datuk Samy Vellu is Datuk Samy Vellu. He is different. I cannot become Datuk Seri Samy Vellu. He is so different from me and I am so different from him but we will together as a force in this party,” he told reporters after Samy Vellu’s resignation.

During Election 2008, MIC only managed to retain three from nine parliamentary seats and six from 19 state seats that it contested. Among the casualties were Samy Vellu and Palanivel.

Earlier this year, Palanivel was awarded a senatorship and made deputy minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities after he compromised to allow P. Kamalanathan to stand as Barisan Nasional’s candidate in the Hulu Selangor by-election.

However, with Palanivel as party president, leaders within MIC are pressuring deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam to forfeit his minister post as human resource minister.

MIC currently only holds one minister portfolio and four deputy minister posts in the Prime Minister’s Department, Ministry of Federal Territories and Ministry of Plantation industries. - Malaysian Insider