Glimpses of S Samy Vellu

 

All of us at the table felt uneasy. I was seated next to then works minister S Samy Vellu who had come to Penang to flag off the International Penang Bridge Run the following morning.

The minister had just given a tongue lashing to the topmost officials of the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) and his ministry who were also seated at the dinner table sometime in the early 1990s.

“I’m not going to eat. I refuse to eat. You all go ahead,” he said.

The run’s organising chairman A Sivaalingam nudged me, his eyes pleading with me to try to pacify Samy Vellu. As New Straits Times Penang bureau chief, I sat on the committee too because the run was co-organised by the New Straits Times and LLM.

But before I could say anything, Samy Vellu continued: “I can’t understand you people. I am a minister, and despite an escort I was delayed by almost an hour on the Penang Bridge. What about the ordinary motorists? How many hours would they have to wait?”

One of the officials, noting it was a Saturday, said in a soft and sorry tone that the increased traffic was due to two major events on the island.

That riled him up even more. “So, you knew about this beforehand. Why didn’t you take extra measures? Why didn’t you plan for the increased traffic?”

Why, he asked the LLM officials, had they not placed additional, temporary booths to cater for the increased number of bridge users. Additional staff could be temporarily placed at tables under large umbrellas to help collect the fare, he suggested.

“You know how many motorists will be cursing us? Don’t just give excuses, think of solutions. I don’t want to see a repeat of this.”

Telling them not to just depend on the fixed collection booths, he suggested that they create additional collection lanes and place more staff on duty on known busy days.

And that is the reason why we find extra toll booths not just on the Penang Bridge but also on highways elsewhere today.

It was another example to all of us there of the man’s ability to think on his feet. He saw the problem and gave a solution – on the spot.

The incident also entrenched my view that his officials either respected him highly or feared him.

Years earlier, I had seen the respect with which he was treated by his ministry officials. He was in Penang to pay a courtesy call on then chief minister Dr Lim Chong Eu.

Reporters and a few top officials of the works ministry, including the secretary-general, were already seated outside Lim’s room when Samy Vellu walked in. I was astonished at the alacrity with which the officials sprang up, just as I was at the way they gushed over an expensive new watch that he relished showing off.

The rubber tapper’s son not only liked fine watches, he also had great sartorial sense. There was, in fact, a time when he was described as the most well-dressed minister. He was conscious of how he looked and how people saw him and that is probably one reason why he went to great lengths to treat his balding head.

The main reason, however, was revealed by the MIC president himself sometime later. Samy Vellu said he underwent excruciating pain at a hair treatment clinic in Australia to pull his scalp to the front to cover the balding patch. He did this because he could not stand his opponents in MIC, particularly one senior party leader, referring to him as “motae” (baldy). And he didn’t want to wear a wig.

It was another example of the man’s indomitable will and his fighting attitude.

Not long ago, A Vaithilingam, who was once Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) president, told me of an incident that reflected  Samy Vellu’s courage.

On the morning of Oct 30, 2007, Vaithilingam heard that the Selangor authorities were demolishing the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Padang Jawa. The MHS president contacted Samy Vellu and both kept in touch throughout the day.

After speaking to a top official of the Shah Alam Municipal Council, Samy Vellu tried but failed to contact Selangor menteri besar Khir Toyo. He later rushed to a hotel where prime minister Abdulllah Ahmad Badawi and Khir were attending a function. After a discussion, Abdullah told Khir to stop the demolition and, as had been agreed between the state and temple authorities earlier, to allow them to relocate after Deepavali, which was about 10 days away.

When Samy Vellu called to inform Vaithilingam of this about 4pm, the latter told him that his members on the ground said a part of the temple had been demolished and that demolition was continuing.

“Samy Vellu said he would go to the spot but I advised him against it as the crowd was very angry with everyone, including MIC leaders, over the demolition of the temple. But he insisted on going.”

Vaithilingam heard later from MHS members on the ground that Samy Vellu was booed and told to leave by some angry Indians at the scene.

“Samy Vellu knew something like this would happen but he still went because he wanted to see the situation for himself and get the enforcement people to back off. I admired him for his courage,” Vaithilingam said.

Vaithilingam, who was also a top national sports administrator, recalled how Samy Vellu was always ready to give financial aid to sportsmen who needed it.

“He was helpful and had a kind heart. Whenever he saw that the note was from me, he would give the athlete or sports official some money to help defray their training or flight expenses,” Vaithilingam recalled.

I was told by a former colleague, M Rajen, that Samy Vellu financed the overseas education of the son of a “kueh” seller in the late 1980s. Rajen used to buy titbits from the vendor who would come around Air Itam, Penang, on his bicycle.

A friend told me that when the family needed money to send her brother to London to study law in the 1990s, they decided to sell a small plot of land that they owned. When Samy Vellu heard of this, he told her they should keep it as few Indians owned land. He managed to get her brother a loan.

Although a good number of individuals have such stories to relate, others ask whose money Samy Vellu had actually spent in helping these individuals.

The perception among some sections of the Indian community is that while Samy Vellu helped some individuals, he did not do enough to uplift the community even though he was a government minister. Some claim the rights of Indians were eroded during his presidency and that he “sold out” the community by endorsing Umno’s “apartheid policies”.

But even his detractors will agree that Samy Vellu was a great patron of the arts and that he was very much into Indian culture and loved the Tamil language. He honed his oratorical skills while serving as a newsreader with Radio Malaysia and as an actor in Tamil stage plays.

He could recite couplets from the Tirukkural, an ancient book of wisdom, with ease, just as he could recite the poems of Subramania Bharati. He also loved to sing old Tamil songs.

His love of Tamil was known and respected even in India, which explains why famed writer and poet R Vairamuthu flew down to pay his respects at Samy Vellu’s funeral on Sept 16. Vairamuthu shot off a touching elegy when talking to newsmen.

Samy Vellu was proud of the traditional Indian dress, and never shied from wearing the vesti and jippa. In fact, I was told by a fellow journalist that once he walked into Parliament wearing the vesti and jippa after attending Thaipusam prayers at the Batu Caves Sri Subramaniar Temple. No one protested. Thaipusam was not a public holiday in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur then.

Samy Vellu was a voracious reader and he especially loved reading management books. There was a time, he told me once, when he would read something before going to bed every day. Perhaps that is why the office boy who passed the Senior Cambridge Examination after attending Further Education Classes at the insistence of his architect boss Vethavanam was so confident and knowledgeable.

He adored Vethavanam for believing in him and giving him the push to study architecture in England. It’s not surprising, therefore, that when he built his house, Samy Vellu chose Lengkongan Vethavanam.

Although Samy Vellu was someone who could get angry very fast, he cooled down just as fast. I witnessed his anger a few times. Once, during the by-election for the Prai state seat, he hammered candidate V Muthusamy for not doing enough campaigning. “You expect me to do everything? What are you here for?” he shouted with eyes blazing at a morose Muthusamy.

However, within minutes Samy Vellu cooled down and whispered something to his driver who went out and returned with a briefcase, which, I suspected, contained money for the campaign. Muthusamy was smiling from ear to ear.

And I witnessed another burst of anger – this time at his officials – at the dinner table on the eve of the International Penang Bridge Run mentioned above.

After getting the frustration off his chest, he turned to me and said: “Kathirasen, so how’s the NST doing? Hey, I must tell you this story…”

We engaged in some banter and after about five minutes, he looked at everyone – who had been silently holding their breath – at the table and said: “C’mon let’s eat. That’s vegetarian isn’t it?”

Smiling at one of the men he had just scolded, he said: “Come Datuk, you must try this Penang food. I heard it’s very good.” With that, minister Samy Vellu scooped a few spoonfuls and placed them on the plate of the relieved official.

That was enough to lighten up the situation and soon everyone was eating and laughing away. The following morning at 6am, Samy Vellu stood on a Simon Snorkel to flag off the runners. He was in an excellent mood and everybody was smiling. - FMT

 

S Samy Vellu is seen at a function in Penang in the 1980s flanked by writer A Kathirasen (on Samy Vellu’s right) and politician MG Pandithan.

 

 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.