Funds from alleged tainted source to help Indians?

Vel Paari, the treasurer general of the MIC, is making a fool of himself by defending the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for allegedly giving the party RM19 million from 2012 to 2014.

According to Sarawak Report, this money was not from Najib per se, but funds allegedly "stolen" from 1MDB. Apparently, even the Selangor MCA allegedly received RM10 million from funds linked to 1MDB.

Malaysians would have expected Vel Paari (photo), MIC's current general treasurer and son of the former leader S Samy Vellu, to have learned some important lessons from the alleged wrongdoings of his father.

But alas, this is not the case. While his father used to display the most obsequious role vis-a-vis Umno leaders, particularly the top echelons, Vel Paari is no different.

Of late he has become one of the staunchest defenders of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, over the 1MDB issue. The editor of Sarawak Report, Clare Rewcastle-Brown called him one of the top Malaysian "comedians" for drumming support for Najib for his colossal failure to manage 1MDB funds - funds meant for the welfare and well-being of all Malaysians.

Vel Paari is in his present position not because he has the right leadership credentials but because he has been put in the place by the current leadership of the MIC who are beholden to Samy Vellu. Without this family connection, Vel Paari would not even be considered for the post of a branch chairperson let alone holding an important post in the party's national leadership.

One of the primary reasons as to why Najib can still cling on to political power is simply because the allegedly ill-gotten gains from the 1MDB funds have been shared with members of the other BN component parties. Some would describe the alleged

Over the last few years, Sararak Report, has made a series of exposes about how the money was siphoned off from taxpayers contributions, who the beneficiaries were and why the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has initiated a series of lawsuits to recover the funds that were squandered from the 1MDB.

Among the MIC leaders, it was Vel Paari who came out strongly in his defense of the Najib. He said that there was nothing wrong for the MIC to receive funds from Najib as other prime ministers have done the same for the party in the past. He further added that the party even took money from Mahathir Mohammed when he was the prime minister.

While it is perfectly alright for the MIC or any other BN component parties to receive funds from the government, it is not alright if funds received are from tainted sources or money that was allegedly stolen from funds meant for the general benefit of the rakyat.

Vel Paari's defense of Najib is totally unjustified and grossly immoral. By defending Najib at all costs, he is prepared to forgo the pride and dignity of the Indian community, a community that has been abandoned by the MIC for nearly 60 years.

MIC will never learn lessons from history. Vel Paari is an example of a leader who cares little or nothing about the fate of Indians in the country, but who is prepared to defend Najib and Umno at all costs.

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P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai - Mkini