MIC sec-gen defends the boss

Defending Palanivel, Murugesan says the MIC president is doing his best for Indians in the country.

PETALING JAYA: MIC secretary-general S Murugesan today rubbished accusations that G Palanivel is the weakest MIC president since the inception of the largest Indian-based political party in the country in 1946.

“Our president (Palanivel) has not only fought for our benefit these past years but also does his best to improve our future. MIC is doing its best to improve its involvement with grassroots members, we believe this will help us become stronger,” he told FMT.

Murugesan was asked to comment on former MIC vice-president M Muthu Palaniappan’s statement recently that Palanivel, who took helm of the party in 2009, was the weakest president in the party’s history.

“He (Palanivel) can’t gather any support. He has no grassroots support. Palanivel has a strange political style. He has chosen a few people to be with him in a small circle. He doesn’t know that these people are actually there only for material benefit, not out of loyalty to MIC and BN,” said Muthu Palaniappan in an interview with FMT recently.

The veteran leader, who is now with PKR, was one of the few Negeri Sembilan MIC leaders who rose to national prominence in the 80s and 90s. He was MIC Youth chief from 1979 to 1984 and vice-president of the party from 1997 to 2000.

“He is a disgruntled leader, that’s all. Coming from a defector, it is obvious. He has been in MIC for many years and even tried to contest for president but failed. All this has probably led him to say things like that,” said Murugesan today.

The MIC secretary-general said the party, with 630,000 members, has moved forward and brought the Indian community along with it.

“We are implementing new policies and programmes to help the Indians grow. We have RM180 million allocated by the government to help finance our young Indian entrepreneurs. Of course, all this cash is parked in several components such as Tekun and our community is sure to benefit from this.

“Also, RM100 million each in 2012 and 2013 for the revamp of Tamil schools nationwide. On top of that, RM50 million has been allocated to aid Indians in skills training for the year 2013,” he added.

He said while it may be true that some Tamil schools have yet to get funding, there were various reasons for it.

He said since the RM100 million was divided among a large number of schools, they ended-up receiving small amounts to refurbish their schools.

“Therefore, we have actually planned to reduce the number of schools to get funds each year so we can do the necessary for the schools once and for all. If a certain school had requested for funds and had not received it this year, that school will definitely receive it the following year and in good time we can resolve this matter altogether.

“I have nothing against anyone, no grudges whatsoever. Anybody can say what they want, only time can tell. But all I can say is, the 2013 elections will definitely be better than that in 2008 for MIC,” he added.

Submit paperwork, contractors told
Murugesan said the party was transparent in aiding and assisting Tamil schools.

“Everything is transparent, we have nothing to hide. Our president has even managed to get the budget approved for next year. This means another RM100 million in 2013. So, schools which missed out on the funds this year will definitely receive it next year,” he added.

Asked on speculation that a huge chunk of the RM100 was being unutilised and returned to the Education Ministry, he said: “All this was done transparently, we have nothing to hide. We were given funds to help the Indians and that’s exactly what we did, that is our purpose.”

On claims that Indian contractors who repaired Tamil schools had yet to be paid, he said these contractors must submit proper “paperwork” for them to receive the money.

“This is the first time our Indian contractors have been given the main contracts, we have created an opportunity for them. It is up to them to honour it by having the right paperwork and not give it out as a sub-contract to a third party. However, I don’t have sufficient information on this issue and therefore cannot say anything further,” he added.

Asked if MIC would meet the National Indian Rights Team (NIAT) to explain where the funds went and to how many schools benefited from it, Murugesan said everything on the matter had been declared.

“Everything has been declared and done openly, we have made it public and we have nothing to hide. Besides, NIAT was supposed to be abolished after the Interlok issue, why are they still around?

“They being around is not an issue, but why misjudge and misinform the public. I do not want to antagonise anyone, I don’t have the reason to,” said Murugesan.

NIAT recently asked MIC to meet them on Jan 5 to explain the issue.