Samy, you're the real 'political zero'
Malaysiakini.com
Apr 18, 2008
Dean Kuok 

I refer to Malaysiakini reports MIC boss: I saw it coming and Q&A: 'Backroom boys' to blame.

Samy Vellu saw it coming. He claimed he knew of the dissatisfaction of the Indians was across the board. He knew the people thought MIC couldn't convince the BN government to do anything for MIC. He knew they thought that the BN government does not care for MIC no matter how much noise MIC makes. He then asked PM Abdullah for funds but PM Abdullah ‘cannot give’ and there is ‘nothing he can do’. Therefore it is the government's fault and not his fault that MIC was thrashed in the recent GE.

Then MIC lost the works ministry post and given the ‘less important’ human resources portfolio.Yet he did nothing because it is not his fault but the fault of the ‘backroom boys’.

The he claimed that MIC leaders are so friendly with the people. That, in a year, 25,000 to 30,000 people come to the MIC headquarters. That, wherever MIC leaders go, people will surround them because they are easily approachable. That at the MIC headquarters, people keep coming because they feel that 'this is their place'. That he has more connections with the ordinary people than anyone else. He sees them weekly, he sees them daily and he has been attending to their problems. He makes himself completely available to their requests.

And after all these claims, he recently found out that the branch leaders would not allow many of the Indians youths to become a MIC member as these youths work for the opposition. Now he claims that this was simply a ‘misunderstanding’ and that all (these youths) want to return to the party as they want to be leaders of the future.

Then he ‘thinks’ Hindraf misled and handed the Indian community to the opposition. He ‘thinks’ Hindraf could not do anything for the betterment of the community because they are not a political party but a social organisation. And yet he instigated their arrest and sent them to rot in prison because he claimed that all they (Hindraf) are good for is at misleading the Indian community and creating trouble. But now he thinks the Hindraf 5 should be released simply to ‘let them go and join their families’.

And after all these, then he ‘thinks’ that MIC has become more relevant for the reason that there are many people who need help. That there are many people who feel that the MIC is the only party that can really help them and he wants to help them.

So, he chose to remain and stay on till 2012 because he believes that one of the traits of a true leader is not to forsake the party in times of crisis. A leader who runs away when the party is in disarray is no leader. It is the duty of a leader to put the house in order and examine what went wrong, he now says.

But is it not his fault that the MIC is in disarray or is he implying that it is someone else's fault and it is now his duty to put the house in order? And may we all remind him that under his leadership:

1. MIC lost 18 out of its 28 seats contested

2. Almost all the MIC’s top leaders were voted out

3. Samy himself was thrashed at his own stronghold

4. The majority of the Indian voters voted for the opposition and that;

5. Even a leader of MIC’s own coalition partner, Umno VP Ali Rustam openly tells him off.

And if these are all not Samy's faults, then whose faults are these?

On those who asked him to take responsibility and called for him to step down, Samy describes them as ‘political zero’, people who don't know politics, who do not understand the system of politics and the minds of the people and who do not care what happens in the country.

I am one of these ‘political zero’ people and I do have the honour of the likes of other ‘political zeros’ such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the other prominent YBs on my side. After all, we all did the same by asking PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to take responsibility for BN’s dismal showing at the recent GE and to step aside.

Samy, you are not only the real ‘political zero’ but also politically bankrupt. 

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