The media reported that Vell Pari, son of S Samy Vellu - the once powerful Umno ally, now being nudged out to pasture by the same ally - as saying that ‘political assassins’ are being groomed to hasten the departure of the once strong MIC head honcho.
He was also quoted as stating that it was Umno’s policies such as demolition of temples, revocation of scrap metal licenses and the incarceration of the Hindraf leaders that were the root causes of the loss of support for BN in the 2008 general elections.
My question to Vell Pari is this - what did his father do when Umno was making all these policies during his tenure as minister for 30 odd years? Umno did not wake up one morning and promulgate these policies. Hindraf was not born overnight; it was a final outcome or a culmination of years of frustration and repression that was brought to the fore.
And can he deny that his father’s lack of effective action as an Indian political representative in the Malaysian cabinet was the factor that slowly but surely built the emotions that were finally vented on Nov 25th, 2007?
MIC failed the Indians and its leadership must accept responsibility. So many policies could have been negotiated and implemented which could have seen more opportunities in education, employment and housing benefitting the deserving Indians but alas this was not done.
It was the political system in MIC, which was structured such where absolute power was vested in one individual that has led to this abysmal state of affairs for the Indians. Talented and intelligent Indians stayed away from the MIC political fold. They will not allow themselves to be degraded by the leader who thinks he knows all that is good for the community.
One good example is Vell Pari himself who is the CEO of Maika Holdings and now, an appointed CWC member of MIC. The current state of affairs for Maika Holding is a clear pointer of Vell Pari’s qualification as a businessperon. And his appointment as CWC member by his father really sums up the dearth of political talent in MIC.
And so, coming back to why I started hitting the keyboard, the issue of ‘political assassins’.
Yes, when you reflect about it, there were quite a few talented leaders within MIC that were assassinated politically and the immensely talented and very intelligent late K Padmanabhan comes to mind. What sins did this great man do to be sidelined, or to use Vell Pari’s lingo, ‘politically assassinated’ by his father?
Finally, MIC was involved in two institutions. One being the successful National Land Finance Cooperative Society and the other, of course, Maika Holdings. Maika now, as all know, is in the process of being given its final rites.
The NLFCS was the handiwork of the late V T Sambanthan who was the MIC president till he was ousted in 1973 or shall I say, politically ‘assassinated ‘. And guess who was the ‘assassin’?
And so Vell Pari, what goes around comes around. It’s 1973 all over again.
