Meeriam shows thali as proof she is Samy’s second wife

IPOH: There was drama in the courthouse grounds here as the woman claiming to be the second wife of Tun S. Samy Vellu arrived accompanied by her family members and lawyers.

The large number of reporters and photographers did not know who she was, until Meeriam Rosaline Edward Paul, the woman embroiled in a legal controversy with the former MIC president, was approached by her lawyer RSN Rayer.

Dressed in a gold saree with orange bodice, she showed her thali (a chain tied by the groom around the bride’s neck in traditional Hindu marriages) to reporters as proof that she and Samy Vellu were married.

A High Court hearing for an interim order to grant Meeriam full access to Samy Vellu was fixed for yesterday, but Justice Hashim Hamzah put off the proceedings following a request by the legal team representing Samy Vellu’s son, Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari.

The decision was made in chambers by the judge. The case will now be heard on Jan 17.

The 59-year-old woman has claimed that she and Samy Vellu held a customary marriage in Kuala Lumpur in 1981.

Meeriam, who was also represented by Ramesh Sivakumar, filed the interim order in March this year.Besides the unrestricted access, she is also seeking to be paid a monthly RM25,000 maintenance fee pending the outcome of her main suit.

Seeking reunion: Meeriam (centre) with Rayer (second from right) at the Ipoh High Court. — Bernama

Rayer said the court granted the postponement as Vell Paari’s legal team was seeking a declaration from the Kuala Lumpur High Court that his father was mentally unfit to defend himself in the wake of two legal cases brought against him.

“They want Samy Vellu’s mental state to be assessed by the court, with the hearing set on Dec 17 where we will also be intervening, ” Rayer told reporters yesterday.

Vell Paari had filed an originating summons against Samy Vellu at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to determine whether the latter was mentally incapacitated, as under Section 52 of the Mental Health Act.

He claimed that his 83-year-old father was suffering from dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Ramesh said he believed the marriage between Meeriam and Samy Vellu was recognised even though it was not registered.

He said traditional marriages were deemed valid as registration was only required from 1982.

Approached outside the courtroom, Meeriam said she last met Samy Vellu at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur on June 13.

“I want him to return home like he used to all the time and care for me like he promised, ” she said.

“I am fully dependent on him, what am I supposed to do now?” she asked, claiming that she has been his wife for the past 38 years.

She said they did not have any children together.- Star