Samy Vellu: Don't fire me - I bring in the cash

Amid urgings for his post to be abolished, Malaysia's Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and Southern Asia S Samy Vellu countered that his job helps bring in money for the country.

He said Malaysia has accumulated much more experience in construction, and that he had headed the Works Ministry for 28 years.

“And now we know the whole world, they want us to go and help them (with their infrastructure) and they will pay for it.

“You don't want that? We have hundreds of contractors here who have no jobs!” he told a press conference in Batu Caves today.

He said this when asked to comment on Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali's urging last week that the government abolish “ministerial rank” positions such as special envoys and advisers.

At a press conference on Jan 20, Ibrahim said that if the government were to slash its budget, these positions should be first to go. He had named Samy Vellu when providing examples of these posts.

“Perkasa urges that these posts are abolished to save the people's money in a way that the people would remain calm when told to tighten their belts, with the leaders as an example,” he said.

According to a Bernama report in 2011, the then-minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz had told Parliament that Samy Vellu's role is to increase the involvement of Malaysian companies in the infrastructure development of India and South Asia.

“South Asian countries especially India are experiencing rapid growth. As such, there is a need for quality infrastructure to support economic development,” he was quoted as saying. -Mkini