Palanivel under fire over seat swaps

There is fear within MIC that by contesting in the Jalong state seat, MIC is reducing its chances of winning back Sungai Siput parliamentary seat.

PETALING JAYA: MIC leaders are hoping that their president G Palanivel would not swap seats in Perak in a move that could eventually lead to the party losing its high chances of winning back the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat.

Palanivel revealed during the party’s central working committee meeting earlier this week that he was currently in talks with BN component parties to swap two state seats in Perak and one state seat in Johor.

However, one particular state seat in Perak – Jalong – is causing much concern to party leaders, and party workers in Sungai Siput.

Jalong is one of two state seats under Sungai Siput. It was won by DAP’s Leong Mee Meng in 2008, who defeated Gerakan’s Cheah Chee Kuan by a majority of 5,495 votes. The Gerakan candidate managed to get about 6,000 votes from 18,8002 voters who voted in 2008.

Under the latest electoral roll, Jalong has 27,559 voters, of which Malays are 4,542 voters, Chinese (15,929) and Indians (7,088).

“Gerakan has once again identified a local man to contest in Jalong. They are confident of getting the Chinese support there.

“If MIC takes this seat, there is no guarantee the Chinese voters will back our candidate. In fact, they may just vote for the DAP Chinese candidate,” said a MIC national level leader who wished to remain anonymous at this stage as his own candidacy is not confirmed.

Worse still, he fears, the decision to take Jalong could result in Chinese voters in Sungai Siput turning away from the party.

“As it stands, we do stand a good chance to win back Sungai Siput but if we were to spite the Chinese voters here as a whole, we then risk losing their support in our battle to win back Sungai Siput,” he added.

In the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency, the Chinese voters hold the majority percentage with 40.2 while Malays form 36.3% and Indians 22.6%. MIC lost the seat to PSM’s Dr Michael D Jeyakumar in 2008.

MIC looks set to pick party vice-president SK Devamany to contest in Sungai Siput as Palanivel is taking over his place at Cameron Highlands.

Party workers also fear that Palanivel’s deals within BN would not translate well on the ground in Sungai Siput.

“We are working hard to get the voters to be acquainted with our candidate. We are putting so much effort to get the Chinese voters to back us again.

“However, all this will be in vain if our gamble in Jalong fails. As a result of that, we may also fail in Sungai Siput,” said a party worker.

Internal political game?
Another national level leader, meanwhile, questioned if Palanivel’s decision to swap a party seat for Jalong is due to MIC’s internal political game.

“Is this being done to end Devamany’s political career in the hope that he would be defeated?” asked the leader.

“As it is, he is being shifted out of his safe seat in Cameron Highlands. He now has to face the tension of working with former president S Samy Vellu who is still thinks of himself as the party’s candidate for Sungai Siput.

“And now this problem over the Jalong state seat. Why not Palanivel just let Devamany re-contest in Cameron Highlands, and he himself stand in Sungai Siput?” asked this leader, who confirmed that he himself would not be contesting in this general election as he was given a “tough seat”.

When contacted, several MIC leaders refused to comment, stating that the matter should be addressed to Palanivel. Palanivel could not be reached for comment.

FMT also learnt that there was an intense discussion over the Jalong seat proposal at the CWC meeting, with most leaders expressing their unhappiness over the swap.

The decision is now with Palanivel to decide if he wants to take the risk of failing to win back Sungai Siput as a result of his unsuccesful wheeling and dealing.