Samy Vellu wants MIC warring factions to 'cool down'

As the infighting in MIC rages on, the party's former president S Samy Vellu said the warring factions need time to cool down.

“It (the resolution of the crisis) won't happen immediately. You'd have to cool down.

“In politics, the more you cool down, the quicker peace comes to you, you see?” he told reporters when met in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said this when asked whether MIC president Dr S Subramaniam should sit down with the two factions and work out a solution to the crisis.

Samy Vellu said he believes that the issue would not drag on for too long, and would likely be settled in three weeks.

MIC is currently embroiled in a protracted infighting between supporters of Subramaniam, and supporters of his predecessor G Palanivel (photo).

Palanivel was ousted as the party's president in July for bringing party matters to court, hence allowing Subramaniam to take over the reins of the party following a re-election.

However, Palanivel's camp alleges a conspiracy between Subramaniam's supporters and the Registrar of Societies to oust Palanivel, which the registrar's director-general has denied.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu said he had faced a similar situation before when he assumed the post of party president in 1979, and dealt with it by meeting various branch and state-level leaders.

“I planned. I sat with all the state chairpersons, branches, and I went to their house to talk to them, and make them important.

“The most important thing in politics is, always think that the other man is more important than us. Then you'll get a big support from the people,” he said.

Earlier today, Samy Vellu was holding a press conference at his office in his capacity as the Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and Southern Asia.

He announced that the firm Isomeric Holdings Sdn Bhd will sign a contract on Jan 11 next year, with the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, which will see a regasification and floating storage plant being set up at Krishnapatnam Port in the state.

The plant would have a capacity of five million tonnes per annum to help support the natural gas demand in Andhra Pradesh, he said, and Petronas will be given the "first right of refusal".

This means the 25-year contract to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the facility will only be offered to other suppliers if Petronas declines the offer. --Mkini