MIC upbeat on retaking lost Negeri seats

Two MIC state officials pour scorn on M Muthu Palaniappan, a defector to PKR.

INTERVIEW

SEREMBAN: Negeri Sembilan MIC chief T Rajagopalu and his predecessor VS Mogan deny the existence of factions within the party’s chapter in the state and scoff at the idea that it will be wiped out in the 13th general election, as suggested by defector M Muthu Palaniappan recently in an interview with FMT.

(Mogan is also the state assemblyman for Jeram Padang and MIC’s national information chief.)

FMT: Muthu claims there are factions in Negeri Sembilan MIC. Is that true?

Rajagopalu: No factions. If there were factions, we would not have won in Bagan Pinang at all the Indian-majority polling stations. We just have one leadership and Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan knows this.

Mogan: There is no such thing. We are united. Rajagopalu and I always work together. We have no problems.

Do you think Muthu’s defection to PKR is a great loss to Negeri Sembilan MIC?

Rajagopalu: This party was created by professionals and it has always had great leaders, except for Muthu. None has left the party out of frustration over not getting party or government posts.

Muthu enjoyed plenty of benefits and perks when he was with MIC. He is an ungrateful person.

Actually, Muthu left after a few veteran leaders advised him against fighting for position, saying time was up for old leaders.

All I can say is that his defection shows that he is greedy for position. He wants the Telok Kemang parliament seat.

For my part, I realise that I’m already 60 and too old to be in a leadership position. I told the party president to field younger candidates in Negeri Sembilan for the coming general election. There are many young prospective leaders in the state. Let’s give them a chance. I prefer to concentrate on improving the party machinery.

But Muthu is already 74 years old and he still wants to contest in the 13th GE. This is a joke. If old timers keep wanting positions, how long must young leaders wait?

Mogan: Actually, he just wants the position. He wants the Telok Kemang parliament seat. Just watch out; if PKR doesn’t give him the chance to contest in Telok Kemang, he will quit PKR.

He has no principles. We won’t bother with him. He doesn’t carry any values for MIC. We don’t lose anything without him.

However, it is interesting that his son Muthu Raman is the current chairman for MIC’s branch in Seremban, the post that Muthu himself once held. The father is in PKR while the son is in MIC. This is interesting, right?

What is your comment on his claim that he had managed to take 2, 000 Indians to PKR and that these are mostly former MIC members.

Mogan: This is a joke. Show us where the 2,000 people are.

If the claim were true, MIC would have closed many MIC branches, but this is not the case. We have not closed any branch in recent years. Instead, we have managed to open many more branches.

Muthu claims that he is a winnable candidate in Telok Kemang. But even in PKR, there are people, including the party’s senior members, already questioning his intentions.

I have a Malay proverb as an advice to him. Ukurlah baju di badan sendiri.

What are Negeri Sembilan MIC’s chances in the coming GE?

Rajagopalu: We will contest again in one parliament and two state seats in Negeri Sembilan. We will win all these seats. With all the work we’ve done in Negeri Sembilan, I’m confident we will even get back the Telok Kemang and Port Dickson seats from PKR. And we will defend the Jeram Padang seat without any problem.

Recently, when PM Najib visited Paroi for the Janji DiTepati programme, thousands of Indians attended the function. This shows how strong the Indian support is, not only for MIC but for BN as well.

We have proven to everybody that we won in all the Indian majority polling stations in the Bagan Pinang by-election in 2009. These were the places where we lost totally during the 2008 election.

Is Muthu aware of all this? These are facts, not rhetoric.

We will prove to everybody that we’ll win all the seats we contest in Negeri Sembilan.

We have weekly courses and meetings with our grassroots leaders and we’re focusing on 13 Indian-majority polling stations all over Negeri Sembilan.

Mogan: Talking about my own constituency of Jeram Padang, two months ago I organised a BN Your Choice programme and the support was overwhelming. More than 3,000 people attended the function.

But there is talk that MIC might hand over Telok Kemang to Umno for fear that the party will lose the seat. The rumour is that MIC will contest in Jempol instead.

Rajagopalu: That is a wild rumour. There is no such thing as we surrendering the Telok Kemang seat.

Actually Telok Kemang is a safe seat in Negeri Sembilan. It doesn’t matter whether it’s MIC or Umno contesting there.

However, if the BN top leadership feels that it’s better that Umno contest in Telok Kemang for strategic reasons, we have no problem on that, especially since we will get a replacement seat, which is probably Jempol.

It’s not true that Negeri Sembilan MIC will end up without any parliament seat, as some rumours have suggested. According to these rumours, Negeri Sembilan MIC will be given another state seat to make it three.

As far as I know, MIC will contest in Telok Kemang, Port Dickson and Jeram Padang.

Sources have said that Mogan will contest in Rantau, which is currently held by Mohamad, the Menteri Besar. It seems Umno and MIC will swap Rantau and Jeram Padang.

Mogan: No. It’s not true. No swapping.

Rajagopalu, would you like to speak about any extraordinary achievement you have made as state MIC chairman?

Rajagopalu: During my first term as state assemblymen and state exco member, on behalf of the state MIC I managed to contribute RM3.5 million for the construction of the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University in Kedah.

During my second term as state assemblymen and state exco member, in year 2006, I managed to build the state MIC headquarters at a cost of RM2 million.

Muthu was a three-term state assemblyman and exco member, but he failed to get any building for the state MIC. What he built during his term as state assemblyman and state party chairman were his own shop lots.