PKR’s Muthu magic for Teluk Kemang

The veteran MIC leader recently defected to PKR. But will he be able to help the opposition party retain the parliamentary seat?

COMMENT

May 10 – It was in 1981 that the political rise of M Muthu Palaniappan began in Seremban, when as a middle-aged lawyer, he won the state chairmanship of MIC Negeri Sembilan by a a single vote with the help and support from S Samy Vellu who was then the president of MIC.

Having taken over the state MIC leadership, Muthu Palaniappan then forged a close political alignment with Samy Vellu and in 1987 he was even declared as one of the three Datuks aligned to Samy Vellu who were fielded to take over the three vice-presidential positions, two of which were then held by K Pathmanaban and MG Pandithan. However, Muthu Palaniappan lost in his bid that year but a few years later he managed to get elected as one of the vice-presidents of MIC.

Muthu Palaniappan also became the state assemblyman for Si Rusa (part of the Teluk Kemang parliament constituency) and served as an exco member in the Negeri Sembilan state government. Later, he also served as a senator.

Towards the end of April 2012, his political journey with MIC came to an abrupt end and took an about-turn with his declaration of support for PKR and words of praises for Anwar Ibrahim. MIC’s disciplinary committee promptly expelled him from the party and Muthu Palaniappan without wasting much time joined PKR to continue his political journey.

In recent times Muthu Palaniappan was one of the more prominent and senior leaders from MIC to defect to the opposition. It is a well-known fact that he was eying the Teluk Kemang parliament seat under a MIC-BN ticket. When he became aware that the MIC president himself was exploring the possibilities of contesting in Teluk Kemang, Muthu Palaniappan knew that he had no more future in MIC and decided to jump ship.

The poser now is whether he would be an asset or liability to PKR in its quest to retain the Teluk Kemang parliament seat and capture the state government in the forthcoming general election.

There is no doubt that having been the state assemblyman under the Teluk Kemang parliamentary seat for several terms, and that too under the leadership of former menteri besar of Negeri Sembilan Isa Samad, Muthu Palaniappan’s defection to PKR is definitely a timely boost for the party, which is struggling to win back Indian support. Isa as the current Umno division chairman of Teluk Kemang is also expected to play a key role for BN in the state.

However, elsewhere in Negeri Sembilan whether Muthu Palaniappan would be able to garner the support of the Indian voters to help PKR and Pakatan Rakyat to capture the state administration is doubtful. Even within MIC circles, he was long forgotten and was seen as the leader who should have retired after having enjoyed his benefits as a politician from MIC.

The young Indian voters of today are politically savvy and are aware of the happenings in the country through the internet-media and they do not need a veteran politician in the personality of Muthu Palaniappan to convince them to vote for the opposition. He will also have a tough time convincing pro-BN Indians to vote for the opposition as he himself is seen is as politician having benefitted a lot from the BN rule in Negeri Sembilan and who switched over to the opposition at the last hour for his own personal political motives.

In that sense, bringing Muthu Palaniappan into the opposition fold in Negeri Sembilan is not a big success for PKR.

However Muthu Palaniappan’s presence in PKR is not totally without any benefit for the opposition. He can play a key role in ensuring that PKR retains the Teluk Kemang parliament constituency.

In 2008, PKR’s Kamarul Baharin won the Teluk Kemang seat by defeating S Sothinathan with a majority of 2,804 votes. The state seat of Port Dickson under Teluk Kemang was also won by M Ravi of PKR with a majority of 733 votes.

Having served as the state assemblyman under the Teluk Kemang parliament seat for several terms, and having been the former state chairman of MIC Negeri Sembilan for several years, Muthu Palaniappan, would definitely be a stumbling block for BN and MIC to recapture the parliament seat of Teluk Kemang and the state seat of Port Dickson.

RJ Rajah is a political observer and writer on politics and social issues with a keen interest in Malaysian Indian affairs.