Sunday, January 25, 2009

Samy Vellu's challenger sacked

Jan 25, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR - A MAN who wanted to challenge Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the president's post in the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) has been sacked.

The sacking of Mr M. Muthupalaniappan clears the road for Mr Samy to be elected unchallenged as president of the biggest Indian party in Malaysia for an unprecedented 11th term.

Mr Muthupalaniappan, 68, a former MIC vice-president, has 14 days to appeal against the decision. He had been the party's Negeri Sembilan chief for 16 years.

The sacking reflected Mr Samy's nervousness at facing a challenge to his leadership at a time when the MIC and himself are at their weakest after being beaten badly in last March's general election.

The party claims a membership of 600,000 from a total Indian population of about two million in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, Mr Muthupalaniappan had faced the three-man MIC disciplinary committee for issuing press statements against the interests of the party.

He had said then: 'The whole process is an eyewash and pre-empted action to stop me from contesting in the forthcoming MIC presidential election.'

Mr Samy, 72, has led the MIC since 1979, but was weakened after he lost his long-held constituency in Perak in the general election. Mr Muthupalaniappan said yesterday: 'No right-thinking person will accept him as the president of the MIC. He cannot claim to be the popular leader of the Indian community.'

Mr Samy has over the years purged the MIC of his opponents and surrounds himself with loyalists, including deputy president G. Palanivel.

Bernama, The Star/Asia News Network

[It is interesting that this article, attributed to Bernama, openly says that Samy has over the years purge the MIC of his opponents and detractors and surrounds himself with loyalist (read: cronies, sychophants, and parasites). He has led the party for 3 years and the last outing was when they kicked him out of parliament and he still has the thick skin to continue to try to lead. No succession plans. No future. No plans. ]

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