KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu retained his post as MIC president for a 11th term but under controversial circumstances and announced to about 500 MIC members gathered at the party headquarters here today that "this is the last election for me."
"I will not contest anymore…I have now finally announced it to the right people (MIC members) and at the right time (now)," he said.
He gave speeches in Malay, English and Tamil but mentioned his "I will not contest" part only in Tamil.
Samy Vellu has come under tremendous pressure to quit from both BN leaders and the Indian community but in the MIC he still calls the shots through a combination of patronage, fear and bending the party rules.
The election committee, staffed by Samy Vellu loyalists, shockingly rejected 48 of the 53 nominations papers filed by his challenger Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan today.
Muthupalaniappan had submitted three more than the minimum 50 nominations that is required to qualify to contest but the election committee headed by Datuk K. Vijayanathan rejected 40 of the nomination papers because they did not comply with the rules of the MIC constitution on elections.
Most of the nomination papers were rejected according to Vijayanathan because there was duplicity - the same branch chairmen had nominated both contestants although the rules only allow them to nominate one.
Muthupalaniappan decried the rejection saying democracy, fair play and justice has died in the MIC.
"It is what he wants, it is what he gets," an upset Muthupalaniappan said when contacted referring to the power Samy Vellu wields.
The reason for rejection is that the same branches that had nominated Muthupalaniappan had also nominated Samy Vellu.
In other instances the branches are said to be defunct or that their nominations were void for various reasons.
A contestant needs a minimum of 50 nominations to qualify to contest. Each nomination consists of one proposer and five seconders, and all must be branch chairmen.
The president is elected by about 3,700 branch chairmen but since Muthupalaniappan's papers have been rejected Samy Vellu has been elected unopposed.
Muthupalaniappan had anticipated this injustice would happen and had persuaded nearly 200 branch chairmen who had nominated him to do make statutory declarations saying they were only nominating Muthupalaniappan and not doing the same for Samy Vellu.
However Vijayanathan rejected the statutory declarations saying the committee would strictly follow party rules which say a branch chairman can only nominate one contestant.
Samy Vellu submitted 572 nominations but the election committee rejected 117 nominations leaving him with 445 valid nominations compared to 5 for Muthupalaniappan.
Samy Vellu, who has been president since 1979, has come under tremendous pressure to quit after losing massively in the March 8, 2008 general election.
The repeated re-elections of Samy Vellu over the past 30 years are carefully managed events and have a carnival atmosphere with food, music and innumerable praise and garlanding.
But this time it was a subdued affair with an air of gloom and fewer people attending.
Except for diehard loyalists who mobbed Samy Vellu, the rest of the 1,000 people stood mutely and watched the spectacle.
Many began to leave after Vijayanathan made the announcement at about 2pm.
His main political rival for three decades and former deputy Datuk S.Subramaniam was present at the re-election "function" and told reporters he is undecided whether to go for the deputy president's post in elections in September.
Baradan Kuppusamy
Malaysian Insider
23/03/09
"I will not contest anymore…I have now finally announced it to the right people (MIC members) and at the right time (now)," he said.
He gave speeches in Malay, English and Tamil but mentioned his "I will not contest" part only in Tamil.
Samy Vellu has come under tremendous pressure to quit from both BN leaders and the Indian community but in the MIC he still calls the shots through a combination of patronage, fear and bending the party rules.
The election committee, staffed by Samy Vellu loyalists, shockingly rejected 48 of the 53 nominations papers filed by his challenger Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan today.
Muthupalaniappan had submitted three more than the minimum 50 nominations that is required to qualify to contest but the election committee headed by Datuk K. Vijayanathan rejected 40 of the nomination papers because they did not comply with the rules of the MIC constitution on elections.
Most of the nomination papers were rejected according to Vijayanathan because there was duplicity - the same branch chairmen had nominated both contestants although the rules only allow them to nominate one.
Muthupalaniappan decried the rejection saying democracy, fair play and justice has died in the MIC.
"It is what he wants, it is what he gets," an upset Muthupalaniappan said when contacted referring to the power Samy Vellu wields.
The reason for rejection is that the same branches that had nominated Muthupalaniappan had also nominated Samy Vellu.
In other instances the branches are said to be defunct or that their nominations were void for various reasons.
A contestant needs a minimum of 50 nominations to qualify to contest. Each nomination consists of one proposer and five seconders, and all must be branch chairmen.
The president is elected by about 3,700 branch chairmen but since Muthupalaniappan's papers have been rejected Samy Vellu has been elected unopposed.
Muthupalaniappan had anticipated this injustice would happen and had persuaded nearly 200 branch chairmen who had nominated him to do make statutory declarations saying they were only nominating Muthupalaniappan and not doing the same for Samy Vellu.
However Vijayanathan rejected the statutory declarations saying the committee would strictly follow party rules which say a branch chairman can only nominate one contestant.
Samy Vellu submitted 572 nominations but the election committee rejected 117 nominations leaving him with 445 valid nominations compared to 5 for Muthupalaniappan.
Samy Vellu, who has been president since 1979, has come under tremendous pressure to quit after losing massively in the March 8, 2008 general election.
The repeated re-elections of Samy Vellu over the past 30 years are carefully managed events and have a carnival atmosphere with food, music and innumerable praise and garlanding.
But this time it was a subdued affair with an air of gloom and fewer people attending.
Except for diehard loyalists who mobbed Samy Vellu, the rest of the 1,000 people stood mutely and watched the spectacle.
Many began to leave after Vijayanathan made the announcement at about 2pm.
His main political rival for three decades and former deputy Datuk S.Subramaniam was present at the re-election "function" and told reporters he is undecided whether to go for the deputy president's post in elections in September.
Baradan Kuppusamy
Malaysian Insider
23/03/09
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