PETALING JAYA: For a long time, former MIC president S Samy Vellu thought of his deputy, S Subramaniam, who died yesterday, as a cockroach because he kept failing to kill Subramaniam’s political career despite his use of a variety of tactics.
Samy Vellu considered Subra, as he was fondly known, a bitter enemy, but had to give him a parliament seat to contest in every election from 1982 by virtue of his position in the party.
There were strong rumours in the 1990s that Samy Vellu wanted to drop Subra, but Subra’s close association with Dr Mahathir Mohamad kept his political career alive. So he kept his Segamat seat from 1982 to 2004.
He had been moved to the seat after he lost the Damansara seat in 1978 to DAP’s V David after winning it in his parliamentary debut in 1974.
A former party leader said Samy Vellu finally decided to kill off Subra’s career after Mahathir resigned in 2003. The 11th general election was held in the following year with prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi leading Barisan Nasional.
“With Mahathir out of the way, Samy Vellu dropped Subra,” the former leader said. “The end of his political career came after he lost his deputy president’s post in the subsequent party polls in 2006.”
That, as many can recall, was the end of an era, with Samy Vellu strengthening his already iron grip on the party. No one was daring enough to take him on after that.
Their political rivalry began in 1977. The then MIC president, V Manickavasagam, handpicked Subra, who was the party’s secretary-general, to take on Samy Vellu for the deputy president’s post.
Subra was already a parliamentary secretary while Samy Vellu, who was the Sungai Siput MP, was not holding any government position.
“Manickavasagam’s aim was to derail Samy Vellu,” the former leader said. “But the fiery orator beat Subra in the bitterly fought battle by 26 votes.
“Then began Subra’s troubles. He continued facing all obstacles thrown his way by Samy Vellu.”
About 12 years later, Subra decided to go for a head-on clash against his adversary with his campaign cry of “What he can do, I can do better”.
Some leaders thought it was a suicidal attempt to challenge Samy Vellu at a time when he was at his peak and enjoying the full confidence of Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional leadership.
True enough, Subra had to eat humble pie as Samy Vellu recorded a convincing win, but he came back to retain the deputy president’s post.
Before Samy Vellu took the party’s helm, MIC enjoyed two ministerial positions, but he opted for an arrangement that meant losing a ministership for two deputy minister’s posts. With that, he made sure he was the only minister in the party while Subra continued playing second fiddle.
Subra’s promising career in politics went on a downward spiral until he was dropped as MIC candidate in the 2004 general election. On the day he was dropped, he was impressively calm, refusing to say anything nasty about the decision.
Samy Vellu said he dropped Subra because of his reluctance to come to his defence when the then Indian Progressive Front president, MG Pandithan, openly called for Samy Vellu’s resignation in 2003.
But everyone knew it was the moment Samy Vellu had been waiting for to nail Subra’s coffin.
Party insiders said the feud between the two was also a battle of two Indian castes. Samy Vellu was from the Thevar clan while Subra got most of his support from the Gaunder community.
An insider said: “As most of us know, MIC is mainly controlled by the Thevar community till today. Subra’s supporters wanted this to be cracked as well. This battle is still ongoing to a certain extent.”
Subra’s career, which spanned about four decades, came to an end after he had served as MIC’s executive secretary, secretary-general, vice-president and deputy president.
Subra, who graduated from Universiti Malaya with a bachelor’s degree in economics
and a Masters in Tamil studies, died yesterday at the age of 78 after being in a coma at his home since suffering a brain aneurysm 11 years ago. Many of his close friends and associates remember him as a gentleman politician.
Even during his most bitter of fights with Samy Vellu, he kept his cool while the president held court with his fiery oratory skill, which often attracted the Indian community. - FMT
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