Samy’s MIED expansion under threat

Reports suggest Samy (pic) and Datuk G. Palanivel are heading towards their first open power struggle over MIED.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — A movement that campaigned to oust then president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu will protest next week against the move to increase the membership of the party’s RM1 billion education wing which they claim is an attempt to shore up his position as its chairman.

Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu (GAS) leader V. Mugilan, told The Malaysian Insider today that a campaign to halt the membership increase of Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) will be held on Monday, which is when its board of trustees will meet to decide on the expansion.

A source has also told The Malaysian Insider that another MIC leader has declined Samy’s invitation to join MIED in protest against the move to add 10 of Samy’s supporters into MIED.

The leader is said to be the first to have sent a notice rejecting the appointment to Samy and the MIED secretariat this morning.

“We will announce the details of the Save MIED campaign in a few days but the focus is to save it from being removed and stolen from MIC,” said Mugilan, who was sacked by Samy from his deputy youth chief position.

Mugilan, who had called for Samy’s resignation in the middle of last year, said that he should hand over the chairmanship of MIED to the current president and asked that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak intervene in the matter.

“If MIED is not saved, it may have a negative impact on the support of Indian voters towards Barisan Nasional,” he said.

Since stepping down as MIC president late last year, Samy has been appointed as a special envoy on infrastructure to South Asia.

The Malaysian Insider had earlier today reported that Samy and his successor Datuk G. Palanivel were heading towards their first open power struggle over the control of MIED, which Samy has chaired since it was formed in 1984.

MIED current membership of 34 is empowered to elect the chairman of the 10-strong board of trustees.

It is understood that the board can increase MIED’s membership without limit.

It will hold its general meeting in the middle of the year, the first since Palanivel became MIC president.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the party’s senior leadership is unhappy at the proposal to increase MIED’s membership without first being vetted by the central working committee (CWC).

One committee member, Tan Sri Dr K. S. Nijhar has asked Samy to postpone the board meeting until it has been discussed by the party leadership, the first time that a trustee has protested such a decision.

MIED now manages the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University that was established in 1996 with MIED funding.

Samy had then said that he had founded MIED and AIMST outside of his capacity as party president. - Malaysian Insider