MIC head and former cabinet minister S Samy Vellu has been accused of harassment and intimidation by a journalist and a photographer from Tamil-language daily Makkal Osai.

The duo - reporter S Venugar and photographer M Samy - lodged separate reports at the Klang police station 12.15am, also alleging that a camera belonging to the newspaper had been briefly seized by Samy Vellu.

samy vellu klang kapar dinner event 171208 m samy The photographer ( photo ) told Malaysiakini that the newspaper had been invited to cover Samy Vellu’s meeting last night with some 140 leaders of the Kapar and Klang MIC branches, at the Klang Executive Club.

On arrival about 7.30pm, the two began covering the event. About 9.30pm, during dinner, Samy Vellu began delivering a speech, only to notice that the crowd not listening to him.

"Samy Vellu went back to his seat, to allow them to continue eating. He later stood up to deliver his speech but the people still not attentive. So he ended his speech about 9.58pm.

“As he was leaving the venue, he was angry. He was scolding the branch leaders for not showing him respect. He was angry because people had left their seats and were walking about, instead of listening to him."

The photographer said he was recording all this when Samy Vellu spotted him and asked which newspaper he represents.

"I told him ‘Makkal Osai’ and he immediately seized my camera and gave it to a MIC senator. Samy Vellu told him to delete the pictures. (When it was returned to me) about half of my pictures were gone," he alleged.

“Samy Vellu continued to verbally abuse me and my newspaper, saying we should not be there and that we had not been invited. I told him we had been invited by a branch leader.”

‘Bodyguard made threat’

The photographer said he and the journalist continued to suffer verbal abuse and threats from Samy Vellu as they were leaving the premises.

samy vellu klang kapar dinner event 171208 03 "His bodyguard approached me and warned against reporting the matter in the newspapers. He said that if we do so, ‘you are finished’.”

The duo then decided to lodge separate police reports, as they feared for their safety.

"We were only doing our job and yet Samy Vellu resorted to such irresponsible behaviour," said the photographer.

He also said the incident happened in front of those invited, leaving the journalist and himself feeling “very humiliated”.

This was the second time that his camera was seized by Samy Vellu, the photographer claimed.

Last December, Samy Vellu - then the works minister - allegedly took away his camera because “he did not like our coverage of floods at the Ladang Bukit Kapar school”.

The long-time MIC head lost his cabinet post following his failure to retain the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in the March general election.