Many Malaysians were caught off guard by the sudden announcement of former MIC president S Samy Vellu’s demise on Sept 15.
For many years prior to his demise, he had been off the radar of most Malaysians and in his last years suffered from dementia, according to sources close to him.
As the accolades poured in, I was taken aback by the lack of analysis of his failed ventures and the ensuing losses, which had left an indelible imprint on the Indian community.
Larger than life, he was the butt of many hilarious Lat cartoons and stood out as the longest serving MIC leader and also served as works minister under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
What irks me was the millions lost in Maika holdings at a time when Indians needed a boost, not only in terms of representation in the financial sector but also to profit financially from their shares.
My now deceased father was one of them who had invested his hard-earned savings in Maika, with no returns over the years, which I know caused him great distress.
In 1984, MIC raised RM106 million from the blood and sweat of grassroots - mostly estate Indian workers - who pawned their jewellery and sold their assets to purchase Maika shares.
At that time, this was considered a huge sum and a great feat by Samy, then MIC president, who personally purchased the highest shareholding in Maika.
I witnessed the anguish of an Indian estate worker, who shouted obscenities at a UAB bank clerk when he couldn't pay the bank instalments of his Maika shares.
He then threw his share’s certificate on the floor and asked for his money back.
It was hellish for thousands of estate workers who assumed this was their ticket to paradise.
Maika scandal
What went wrong? Maika lost many opportunities and one glaring missed opportunity was when the government allocated 10 million Syarikat Telekom Malaysia Bhd (STMB) shares to Maika, at cost.
This was when STMB was going to go public on the stock exchange.
Unfortunately, nine million shares were channelled to three unknown companies proposed by Maika.
Over the years, this matter was raised, even in Parliament as to why those shares did not reach their intended target.
The profit would have boosted Maika and benefitted the Indian community, a loss estimated to be RM120 million based on STMB share prices when it went public.
News reports over the years carried Samy’s repeated denial of any mismanagement but it was never fully accepted and explained how the nine million shares never reached their intended target.
In news reports, it was alleged the topic was never properly addressed and Samy Vellu himself said he had made the decision to redirect the monies to the three unknown companies.
Unfortunately, in 2010, when G team Resources headed by Westport’s executive chairperson G Gnanalingam took over Maika, shareholders were only offered 80 percent of its value with no dividend over its 46-year history.
Till today, questions remain unanswered, and the Indian community remains in the dark and it casts a shadow over Samy Vellu’s legacy.
Education to Indian students
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, in a published article on Aug 6, 2016, wrote about what he alleged was the “scandalous” nature of the Asian Institute of Medical Science and Technology University (AIMST).
Among other aspects, he discussed the decline in student numbers and the ratio of Indians to non-Indians, of which the latter had exceeded the former.
Records show AIMST was an initiative of MIC in 2001, set up with money collected from MIC branches all over the country on 200ha of land given by the Kedah state government.
Ramasamy alleged the original intention to assist poor underprivileged Indian students to pursue their medical studies has not been fulfilled.
This and other allegations on AIMST continue to haunt Samy’s legacy of providing much-needed education to poor Indian students.
Over the years, complaints have surfaced about TAFE College in Seremban, set up in 1972 and owned by Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), under MIC and part of Samy’s vision to provide education to Indians.
K Kabilan, in a blog posting on Jan 18, 2008, reported on how a top student at TAFE Seremban, whose Bachelor of Engineering degree, with twinning from Northumbria University in the UK, was dropped from MQA’s list of recognised universities.
Repeated meetings of the student with Samy and his team brought no relief or solution.
The whole cohort of 150 students lost their accreditation.
Indeed, what did the Indian community benefit from the longest-serving MIC leader in terms of education and economic status is a question that begs to be answered. - Mkini
DHARSHINI GANESON is a former journalist with The Sun and The Vibes.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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