‘It’s time he realise that Indians are no longer goats for him to lead to the slaughterhouse. They will also no longer allow him and his cohorts to enrich themselves on the pretext of helping the community’.
Meenachi Indian: My advice to the 'has been leader' of the semi-defunct MIC would be for him to quit being in denial. He was the main reason why people ditched the MIC in the general election and he is also the reason why good party candidates such as T Mohan and S Murugesan were also slain. As for him saying that the needs of the Indian community had not been met by the government, how come he never really said much about this when he was in power? Matter of fact he had actually said then that the Indians were doing well here. Didn't you Samy Vellu?
Have you forgotten or are you shamelessly feigning amnesia? Or do you think that people are dumb enough to buy your silly rhetoric over and over again? Samy Vellu's statement, ‘If tomorrow I announce that if anybody comes and joins me, I give him 100,000 dollars, you can see there will be no more place to stand here. I have to print the notes myself.’ is a serious insult to the Indian community. Does he take us to be fools? How dare he say something of this nature?
It’s time Samy Vellu realise that Indians are no longer goats for him to lead to the slaughterhouse. They will also no longer allow him and his cohorts to enrich themselves in the pretext of helping the community. He must also realize that the members of the Indian community are neither his slaves nor he their slave master.
If Samy Vellu is sincere in seeing the MIC survive this political tsunami, he should leave the party. He is no longer wanted and even his once loyal MIC supporters are beginning to criticise him. Therefore, in order to save what's left of his self-respect and dignity, it would be best for Samy Vellu to split the scene.
Inthian: How could ever the MIC president Samy Vellu come and say now that he saw storm or wave of political change six months before the election? If our memories don’t fail us, the MIC president was boasting the MIC will deliver a 100% win in the elections. According to him, even an army cant defeat him.
He is now shifting the blame to the government and the prime minister for not funding the MIC to boost the morale of the party among the Indians. At the MIC organised get-together at the Cheras Badminton Stadium in February, the MIC president was praising the prime minister and went on to say that only the BN can assist the Indians. It baffles me to see that the MIC president comes up with this contradictory statement now.
Nincompoop: Yes, Samy, you are political ‘genius’. It is baloney say that you saw it coming six months before the election. If you are so sure, you would have dropped out gracefully and not have to suffer your humiliating defeat in Sungei Siput. Talking about reform and change, these are all signs that the MIC and BN are not capable of change, period.
Habib RAK: The replies given by Samy Vellu to your reporter are simply insulting to our common sense. Samy Velu is in total denial. It is reported that as far as Samy Vellu is concerned, one of the hallmark traits of a true leader is not to forsake the party in times of crisis. ‘I know that after the elections, our party is in disarray. A leader who runs away when the party is in disarray is no leader," he now says.
Samy, you ARE the cause of the disarray and so long as you are the leader, the crisis will remain. You must leave now to demonstrate that you are a leader. Leave now and allow the people to remember you for the good things you have done in the past. Don’t destroy it any further. All other points given by Samy simply adds salt to injury. Samy Vellu, just leave and your party will get an immediate boost.
Retired Soldier: Yes, MIC has done a lot for the Indians who are committee members of divisions and branches. Most of them have land, low cost houses etc. It has even made a multimillionaire out of a school gardener. The general public though has benefitted little. Samy Vellu can blame anybody else but he and MIC leaders are the root the MIC's downfall. They were arrogant.
Samy Vellu personally promised three soldiers houses in 1987 and we are still waiting after meeting with Samy five times while we were serving in East Malaysia. I asked for a study loan from MIC after retirement but was told by a YB to get it from the armed forces. My vote will never ever be for MIC.
Peter Yew: Samy Vellu is not totally at fault for the big loss suffered by BN although he is much to be blamed for taking a tough stand against his own people for holding the Hindraf protest rally. Any protest is a sign of discontent and Samy should have realised that it will lead to something unwelcome if the disgruntled’s issues are not resolved quickly.
As expected, they were pushed away unceremoniously, and its leaders put away under detention. Perhaps Samy should have made his stand known publicly if he had agreed with the core issues of Hindraf but by taking a distant stand, he deserved to be removed from his position in the government.
Ahmad Badawi shoulders the larger blame for not taking care of the Indian community - at least to public knowledge, he did not. When Samy went a-begging, why did not Abdullah agree? It wasn't his money. It was the national funds we are talking about that is to be shared by all races. His refusal to support what Samy asked for is a major reason why the Indian votes fell away.
MR: Samy Velu should have done whatever he seems to be doing now, many years ago. It is no secret that he and his team of MIC people have been ‘yes sir, men’ to the Barisan all the way. Suddenly, after his embarrassing defeat, he is again trying to fool the Indians that he is fighting for their rights.
He promises the sun and moon to every Indian who meets him but only his close allies get anything. The defeat of MIC is solely due to the arrogance and dictatorship of the MIC team. I will never blame the Barisan for it.
On Kampung Baru hails 'Ketuanan Rakyat'
Adcin: On the day that Anwar celebrated his 'return' to politics, all the major dailies had warned that the gathering at Kampung Baru was illegal. In spite of this Anwar and his merry men and women proceeded with this foolish act of defiance and bravado.
Of course, there was no good reason for the police to have denied the permit, but of more concern is that Anwar is taking an unneccessary risk for personal glory and to spite Umno. It must have occurred to him that the whole lot of them could have been arrested under the ISA if a few mischief-makers had caused a commotion or words were said considered seditious. Interestingly enough, he conveniently had to leave the country and left the poor wife as usual holding the baby.
As the de facto leader of a fledgling coalition, Anwar must stop pushing his luck and showing off for I assure you that as night follows the day, he will eventually get into trouble. The politicking is over and it is time to deliver, start acting as a man who would be king and not as a high stakes roller.
Meng: The heavy police and FRU presence at Sultan Sulaiman Club in KL that night revealed the fear and trepidation felt by the Abdullah administration. Time after time, Umno leaders say that Anwar Ibrahim is forgotten, is irrelevant and is history. Even after the 12th general elections, Tun Mahathir says he (Anwar) is not that popular. Yet, that night’s crowd showed otherwise. A 20,000 strong crown was said to be 7,000 by RTM standards.
The police the morning after busy themselves with that night’s gathering. It was an illegal rally they contended. They should have arrested all 20, 000 people who were gathered. The long arm of the BN federal government is still felt and the rakyat are still not free from their corrupt clutches. That night was a good reminder. On April 14, 2009, we should meet again to celebrate the freedom for all Malaysians and for Malaysia and not just Anwar Ibrahim. Freedom from the corrupt and justice for all Malaysians irregardless of creed, religion and race.
On Rodziah's multi-racial ambitions
Amboanokkelate: YB, gua caya sama lu! I can scarcely believe what I read and am thoroughly elated. Of course, we should have Chinese Opera in Bahasa Malaysia, it's about time we did. We've been multi-racial since the Zaman Kesultanan Melayu Melaka. It's been hundreds of years in the making but, I guess it's never too late.
Get all the races back to basics. Whether it be dances, cultural shows etc, we need to find that uniting link which I believe happens when all the cultural representations are bound together as one - and there we will find the ‘Malaysian culture’ that seems to have eluded us these past few years. Bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita roboh .- this peribahasa rings a bell doesn't it? Anything that helps in unifying the Malaysians has my vote.
On Anwar: We have numbers to topple gov't
NGO Robert: It is gratifying to note that Pakatan Rakyat leader, Anwar had confirmed last night that PR had enough numbers to take over the federal government. If this is true, it will not be to PR's advantage to wait any longer even with a handful of a majority as time is against Pakatan as the anti-hopping law is just around the corner in the coming Parliament session.
I am convinced that Anwar still recalls when he was the DPM he missed the golden opportunity to topple Tun Mathadir for the No.1 post in the Umno election before his downfall. This is because he was too sympathetic and grateful to his mentor at that time. In politics, either you topple your opponent or your opponent topples you - there is no such thing as ‘wait and see’.
Whatever plan Anwar has in mind, it must be crystallised now before it is too late. My best regards to him as a free man now who had lived up to his conscience.
Joe Fernandez: Senator-in-waiting Anwar says he has enough seats to form the federal government but wants to wait until he has a comfortable majority. Is he trying to turn PKR into another Umno, heaven forbid, or Onn Jaffar's idea of what Umno should be?
Umno should re-invent itself along the lines of what Onn Jaffar envisaged and not allow PKR to steal the thunder from underneath its feet. But is Umno willing to shed its stubborn defence of Umnoputraism a la Mahathir and stop twisting every issue into a racial issue to play to the gallery and scare the Malay voters into circling the wagons behind it? Is it willing to stop using jealousy of the Chinese in business as its ‘political ideology’? They say that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
On End reliance on foreign workers: Syed Hamid
Oddpapa: This problem never seems to cease. Time and time again, somehow the government never understands this issue. For once, is it so difficult to understand that enforcement is the problem? My 2 kupang is
1. The younger Malaysians do not want to work in factories/manufacturing or those low level sectors anymore. But Malaysia still needs those sectors. Can we have all Malaysians to be sitting in front of a computer? Who is going to become the garbage man, grass-cutter etc? Therefore, we need foreign workers to fill the vacuum created.
2. The government is always saying they need to train the younger generations to fill the gaps but in order to bring a worker up to a satisfactory skillful level, it takes time, 3-5 years. So meanwhile, we must let legal foreign workers do the job. I know of a industry which has vacancies for about 1,000 skilled workers. I challenge the minister to supply Malaysian workers within one month.
Dhammika: There is now a dateline for the departure of three million foreign workers. This is a good move in the service-industry business. With the rising cost of living, most - if not all - retired citizens are looking for jobs. Without foreign workers, they can work in restaurants, coffee houses etc
I have in many encounters with foreign workers, especially in coffee shops. The employers earn so much but they are underpaid with long hours. I don’t know if they have undergone health checks and I doubt so. There is an urgent need to set a time frame to quickly move out the illegals and the nonessential workers first. In this way, Malaysia can be self reliant and bring down the unemployment rate to the lowest possible level.
On MP: Seek underground water instead of building dams
KJ Khoo: Santiago makes pertinent remarks regarding the need for people to use water thoughtfully. His remarks regarding the effects of dams and, specifically, of the Kelau dam on the Orang Asli, are also to the point.
However, Santiago seems to forget that he is now a member of the coalition forming the state government of Selangor, rather than an NGO'er. As such, it might really be best if he sat down with ‘their’ technical experts, pore over the figures and possibilities and explore his ideas about underground water instead of throwing it up as he would have as a powerless NGO'er. There are also serious environmental and physical impacts with tapping underground water, especially if he's right about the likely effects of global warming on Malaysia's rainfall patterns.
Moreover, his quibble about the actual water usage against projected speaks of splitting hairs. So the projected demand was 3,000 mld and the actual was about 10% smaller at 2,650 mld. Better have some margin of error than none at all.
Incidentally, Selangor's population growth between 1991 and 2000 was 6.1% per annum and not 1.6%. Santiago seems to have gotten his numbers inverted on that one. If the Selangor economy grows at the pace it has been growing, the 4% projected population growth is probably a somewhat conservative figure. And if the Selangor economy stagnates, resulting in a reduction of population growth to his 1.6%, well, then, there will be a return of the BN to government in Selangor!
