‘Palanivel should step down’

The MIC president should shoulder responsibility for the party's poor performance in the polls, says a former youth chief.

PETALING JAYA: MIC president G Palanivel should take responsibility over the party’s dismal performance at the just concluded 13th general election and resign the party post although he has been elected as a member of parliament.

In making this call, former Pahang MIC Youth secretary CK Chandran, who is also Pekan MIC member, said Palanivel should be blamed for the party’s lethargic performance in the polls, which saw MIC lose five parliamentary and 13 state seats.

“After the 2008 elections, MIC only won three parliamentary and seven state seats. Then, Palanivel and his bunch of supporters pressured (then president) S Samy Vellu to step down and take responsibility for the result.

“Now history repeats itself. In this election the party only won one extra parliamentary seat. But it lost extra two state seats. Now MIC has four parliamentary and five state seats…it is a downhill trend.

“This also means Palanivel has not made any improvement to the party in the last three years he has been president,” Chandran told FMT.

Apart from Palanivel who won the Cameron Highlands seat, party deputy president S Subramaniam (Segamat), vice president M Saravanan (Tapah) and central working committee member P Kamalanathan (Hulu Selangor) also won their respective seats.

Another vice-president SK Devamany lost the tussle for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat. Devamany was the incumbent Cameron Highlands MP.

He was “transferred” to Sungai Siput in this election after Palanivel decided to contest the Cameron Highlands seat, which was considered ‘safer’ than the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency.

The Sungai Siput seat has been traditionally contested by the MIC president.

While announcing the MIC candidates list last month, Palanivel told newsmen that “somebody” had instructed him to contest the Sungai Siput seat without elaborating who the “somebody” was.

He was also confident that MIC would be able to win almost 90% of the nine parliamentary and 18 state seats the party contested under the BN banner.

“The party is now riding on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Indian votes to the BN did not come due to MIC but because of Najib. MIC is just riding on Najib’s popularity,” said Chandran.

“Look at this election. The party president should have gone down to visit all constituencies contested by MIC candidates but Palanivel was selfish, concentrating only on his seat. He did not even care if other party candidates won or lost,” he added.

“MIC had a weak General leading the army into the election. MIC had some very good candidates but they lost because of an inept General who was not up to his task.

“It is very important for the president and the party to connect with the rakyat. Sad to say this is sorely missing. Whatever said and done about Samy Vellu, he always felt the pulse on the ground,” said Chandran.

Don’t make him a minister

In the 2008 general election, Devamany won the Cameron Highlands seat with nearly a 3,000 vote majority. But in this polls Palanivel only managed to obtain a 460-vote majority in the same seat.

Chadran said even if Palanivel was adamant in keeping the MIC top post, other party leaders who love MIC should challenge him during party elections, slated for next year.

“The prime minister should not give him a ministerial post. I have nothing against Palanivel. But he is a failed leader. He should just be the Cameron Highlands MP,” he added.

Meanwhile, political analyst Dr Denison Jayasooria from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said MIC, MCA, Gerakan and PPP have all become political liability for Umno.

He told the Star yesterday that this was MIC’s worst performance in a general election todate.

Admitting that there was an urban vote swing towards the opposition, he called on the MIC to review its relevance, and that the party needed a new breed of leaders who were in touch with the grassroots.

Yesterday MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek announced that he will not seek re-election for the party post at the upcoming MCA election. Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon had before the polls announced that he would do the same. Both these leaders did not contest in this general election.

PPP chief M Kayveas lost the contest for the Pasir Bedamar state seat in Perak. He is expected to stay on as president because PPP lost all the seats allocated to it by the BN. The party contested one parliamentary and five state seats.