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Samy Vellu

Dato' Seri Samy Vellu Sangalimuthu (Tamil: சாமிவேலு சங்கிலிமுத்து) (born 8 March 1936) is a Malaysian politician. He is the longest serving President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the Barisan Nasional coalition. He has held the position since 1979, for 10 consecutive terms. He was the Works Minister of Malaysia and the longest serving minister in the Cabinet of Malaysia. He was the only Malaysian Indian minister and the representative of the ethnic Indian community in the Malaysian cabinet at that time.

Pursued by scandals, corruption allegations, and charges of lack of effectiveness, he suffered a shocking defeat at the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency in the 12th Malaysian General Election on 8 March 2008.

Early years

Childhood and heritage

The eldest of three children, Samy Vellu was born in 1936 to rubber tappers Sangalimuthu and Anggamah at the Rengo Malay Estate near Kluang, Johor. His father, who had arrived from India in 1919, moved between estates in search of better wages and was working as a labourer at the coal mines in Batu Arang, Selangor when the war ended.

Sangalimuthu later traded at the Batu Arang market while his son went to various Tamil schools. Samy Vellu dropped out and took odd jobs while attending night classes. After his mother's death in 1950, he left for Kuala Lumpur with his father. There, he began work as a bus conductor with G.T.C. transport company (now Syarikat Sri Jaya).

Early adulthood in Kuala Lumpur

It was in the city of Kuala Lumpur that he met Y. Thomas, another bus conductor. The two became good friends but years later Thomas would challenge him for the party presidency. Life in the city was difficult. In his words: "These were years when I only ate one meal a day ... I felt things could not get any worse."

His fortunes took a turn for the better when he met Teo Philips, a contractor who got him work as an office boy with the then well-known architectural firm of Vethavanam and Co. For RM9 a month, he also had to clean Vethavanam's house, wash his car and water the garden. But Vethavanam encouraged him to take up architecture. He began to seriously study English and attend night classes in draughtsmanship.

He and some friends formed a theatre group that staged dramas in estates and small towns. The group's leading actors were Samy Vellu and (now Datuk) V. Govindaraj. One of their earliest and most successful dramas was entitled Nattpu (Friendship). Ironically, both entered politics and stayed loyal to each other until they fell out dramatically and played out a real-life drama in 1984 that ended with Samy Vellu expelling Govindaraj from the MIC. Govindaraj, however, was readmitted in the party a few years later, and was appointed to the Central Executive Committee where he served until 2006, following his open support for Samy Vellu's opponent, Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam.

The road to power

Foothold in politics

In 1959, a year before he got facket, he and Govindaraj joined the Batu Caves MIC branch as ordinary members. Samy Vellu was 23, and winning the MIC presidency is his ultimate objective. It took him 20 years to reach the top. Five years after joining the party, he was elected Selangor MIC committee member and the head of the party's cultural bureau. His boldness brought him to the front ranks. He was neat and well dressed at a time when many were sloppy.

Samy Vellu was, and continued to be, a disciplined and determined man. He successfully converted crises to opportunities. During the Indonesian Confrontation, he made headlines by climbing up the Indonesian Embassy's flag pole, pulling down the flag and burning it. "I was charged in court and fined RM25," Samy Vellu later said. Malaysian newspapers called him Hero Malaysia on the front pages.

Samy Vellu also had good friends to help him along the way. When Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) started broadcasting Tamil news, Samy Vellu's friend Durairaju who headed the Tamil section, appointed him as a newscaster. As a result of that, Samy Vellu became a household name, with voice and name recognition. He would continue to read Tamil news over RTM from 1963 until he became a Member of Parliament in 1974. Samy Vellu used this popularity to garner votes, and eventually, after five futile attempts, Samy Vellu won the Selangor MIC's secretary post on the sixth attempt, trumping V.J. Balasundram by 13 votes in 1967. Samy Vellu was 31 then.

Foray into national politics

He recalls the state of the MIC on his return with horror. It was time for a coup against Tun V.T. Sambanthan, then the President of MIC, and Samy Vellu played a key role in persuading Deputy President Tan Sri V. Manickavasagam to challenge Sambanthan for the top post. "I was one of five leaders who took the risk to openly defy Sambanthan," Samy Vellu later admitted. Pressure was applied on Sambanthan to quit but he resisted until in March 1973 when Tun Abdul Razak stepped in and negotiated a deal with Sambanthan who agreed to quit on June 30, 1973.

But the rise of Manickavasagam did not bring rewards for Samy Vellu. Instead new faces came to the forefront. This was the time when Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, Datuk K. Pathmanaban, a Harvard MBA holder, and several others entered the political arena to infuse new blood into MIC, and Manickavasagam gave them preference. They were young, well-educated and ambitious but lacked grassroots experience.Samy Vellu was already a party vice president in 1974, when was elected to the post with the highest number of votes, but he was not offered a government post until after the 1978 General Election when he was made Deputy Minister of the Housing and Local Government Ministry. Talking of those years still makes Samy Vellu sore. "Sometimes I am still bitter with Manickavasagam, but I had nothing against Subramaniam. I never once wanted to throw him from the party. The problem was he was always listening to other people ... others were using him," he said, recollecting his stormy relationship with his deputy since 1974.

Subramaniam, then the Secretary General of MIC, was hand-picked by Manickavasagam to succeed him; however, Samy Vellu fought back, literally, and in 1977 edged over Subramaniam by a mere 26 votes to become the Deputy President of MIC.

When Manickavasagam died suddenly on 12 October 1979, Samy Vellu gained a toe-hold as the Acting President. But it was a divided party that Samy Vellu took over, with the rank and file on his side, and much of the Indian intelligentsia backing Subramaniam; in the following years, Samy Vellu worked the hardest to remake MIC in his image. In 1981 Samy Vellu almost moved to sack Subramaniam, but following a 20-minute private talk with the latter, both came to some form of understanding, and peace prevailed in the party for the next five years. It was during this time that the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), Maika Holdings Berhard (MAIKA), and plans for Tafe College Seremban started.

But the in-fighting resurfaced in 1986, and in 1989 the two leaders were locked in battle to settle the score. Samy Vellu won, and proceeded to cleanse the MIC of all opposition. More than half the party's branches were outlawed, mostly on spurious grounds. He even expelled MIC Vice-President Datuk Tan Sri M. G. Pandithan, who went on to form the Indian Progressive Front.

In the following year, Samy Vellu dropped Subramaniam from the list of candidates standing for the 1990 General Election. The latter however bounced back with the assistance of Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammad to regain his deputy minister's post.

Eventually, in the June 2006 party elections, Samy Vellu openly supported his trusted lieutenant, former press secretary, Datuk G. Palanivel, who stood against the incumbent Subramaniam. Palanivel emerged as the victor, and the new deputy president in 27 years. Samy Vellu's image started to tarnish and he lost ethnic Indian support after Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) organised a rally on 25th November 2007 at Kuala Lumpur demanding 18 points to prevent further discrimination against ethnic Indians, whom had been marginilised for 50 years since the country's independence.

Cabinet positions

He was first appointed to the Malaysian cabinet in 1979, as the Government and Housing Minister. He then went on to serve until 1989, as the Works Minister. From 1989 to 1995, he became Malaysia's Minister for Energy, Telecommunication and Post. In 1995, he returned to the Works Ministry, where he remained until he lost his parliamentary seat to Dr. D. Michael Jeyakumar in the March 2008 general election.

He was the second longest serving minister in the country after Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.

Contributions

Education

He is the founder and Chairman of the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), a non-profit organisation that provides educational loans and scholarship to deserving Indian-Malaysian students.

He helped to establish a TAFE college in Seremban and Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with TAFE, Western Australia.

Subsequently, in collaboration with Bristol University, he has started the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science & Technology (AIMST), now located at a temporary campus at Bandar Aman Jaya, Sungai Petani, Kedah, while a permanent campus is being built at Semeling, Kedah.

He is also the founder and Chairman of the Workers Housing Cooperation Society (KPJ) and Education Cooperative Society, Koperasi Didik. There is also Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS), MIC's think tank, currently headed by Dr. Denison Jayasooria.

Economy

As Minister of Works, he successfully undertook the construction of the 13.6km Penang Bridge linking Peninsular Malaysia with Penang Island.

Introduced the privatization concept in highway construction in Malaysia culminating in the successful completion of the 900km North-South Expressway.

As Minister of Energy, Telecommunication and Posts, he successfully undertook the privatization of three Government utility entities, namely the Telecommunications Department to Telekom Malaysia, the National Electricity Board to Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the Postal Department to Pos Malaysia.

Introduced Value Added Network Services and cellular networks such as Celcom, Mobikom, GSM and PCN.

Controversies surrounding Samy Vellu

Since holding his post as Works Minister of Malaysia, Samy Vellu is alleged to have been involved in several money scandals and work defects in several prominent construction projects in Malaysia by cover up the bumiputera contractor anc companies, which included the discovery of fungus growing in the air-conditioning system of the operating theatre in the Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor Bahru as well as long closure cracks on MRR2, an overpass highway in Ampang

Samy Vellu is often accused of sucking up shares of many of Malaysia's companies And the MAIKA Telecom Share Scandal continues to haunt him. Samy Vellu is alleged to have siphoned off 9 million (of the original 10 million) Telekom shares that were allocated to MAIKA. He had allegedly used three companies -- Clearway Sdn. Bhd., S.B. Management Services, and Advance Personal Computers Bhd. -- linked to Samy Vellu, his son S. Vell Paari, and brother-in-law to carry out his misdeed. When the scandal broke in mid-1992, the shares were valued at RM 120 million. In 1994, the then Chairman of the MIC Public Claims Committee, V Subramaniam (aka "Barat" Maniam), charged that the accounts have been fabricated to make it appear that the profits from the sale of the Telekom shares were channelled to MIED. He declared, "Samy Vellu is a thief. He has stolen (Telekom) shares from the Indian community."

Some believe that Samy Vellu had sold the Indian-Malaysian community off in order to save himself from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency. They allege that he did not do enough or protested loud enough when the Indian-Malaysian situation worsened, or when the Malaysian government dissolved the South Indian Labour Fund. Currently, he has committed his energy to building the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST). However, AIMST, built with donations collected from the Indian-Malaysian community, too, is riddled in controversy, as its shares are owned by Samy Vellu's associates, Tan Sri K. Ambikaipakan and Datuk Dr. T. Marimuthu

Samy Vellu is also often criticised for his leadership style. As one critic put it, "He (Samy Vellu) is very much in control of the party (MIC), and the party's run almost [as a] feudal organisation where almost all decisions are made by the President himself. A lot of Indians are critical of MIC's role in the coalition government ... the Indian middle class does not want to associate itself in the MIC and largely making the MIC a working class party."

There have also been allegations that Samy Vellu uses thugs to intimidate his political opponents, and that he uses phantom voters to win elections both at the party and the parliamentary levels A petition by Samy Vellu's challenger, Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, to the election court alleging electoral fraud during the 1998 General Election at Sungai Siput constituency, however, was dismissed by the presiding judge, Justice Wan Adnan, on technical grounds.

Rivalries

S. Subramaniam

His enmity with Deputy President (former)of MIC, Datuk S. Subramaniam has gone from bad to worse ever since he defeated Subramaniam for the vice president post.

For the second time, Subramaniam has been dropped as a candidate for the 11th general election - three days before nomination day. According to Samy Vellu, Subramaniam has enjoyed his time as an MP, parliamentary secretary and deputy minister, citing "now it was the turn of others to taste such fame."

Subramaniam stood to defend his deputy president post in the 2006 party elections but Samy Vellu had gone around campaigning that a vote for Subramaniam was a vote against Samy and that he endorsed Datuk G. Palanivel.

In the 2006 party elections , Samy Vellu was eventually returned as president uncontested and Palanivel trumped Subramaniam for the deputy president's post.

M.G. Pandithan

Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan and Samy Vellu, who were at one time best friends, were at loggerheads over more than two decades, often trading barbs through the media and trying to outdo each other through political manoeuvres.

The bad blood between Samy Vellu and Pandithan began in 1988 when the Indian Progressive Front (IPF) president, who was then a vice-president in the Malaysian Indian Congress, was issued a show-cause letter for allegedly practising caste-oriented politics.

In June 1988, he was sacked after he started a fast-to-death effort in a bid to get charges of inciting violence and unrest within the party dropped.opai pundek He also brought a coffin to the MIC headquarters in protest. He went on to form IPF.

The IPF chief told a press conference in July 2007 that he wanted to bury the enmity with Samy Vellu but ruled out any merger plans with MIC, a Barisan Nasional (BN) component and the country's biggest Indian-based political party.

"Enough is enough. It has been more than 20 years, I don't want to have any enmity with him (Samy Vellu). Bad blood between the two of us is not good. I want to be a friend.

"We should join forces to fight for the Indian community. Twenty years of fighting is too long (between both leaders)," were Pandithan's words at the press conference.

It must be noted that the IPF chief, who was suffering from prolonged illness, had received visits from Samy Vellu on numerous occasions since 2006. Pandithan died in April 2008.

Samy Vellu said that the question of IPF’s entry into Barisan was not discussed but MIC held fast to the belief that only one Indian-based party could represent the community in Barisan.

Family

Samy Vellu is married to Datin Seri Indrani Samy Vellu, his second wife, a restaurant owner. Samy Vellu has one son, Vell Paari, 45, a high school drop-out who currently manages MAIKA Holdings. His daughter-in-law, Shaila Nair, 33, is a singer .

In the same year, Vell Paari was also implicated in the 'mysterious death' of actress K. Sujatha.

Professional qualification

Chartered architect
Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Member of Malaysian Institute of Architect

Honours and awards

In 1982 the Government of Republic of Korea conferred on him the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit (Gwang Hwa Medal) for strengthening bilateral relations between Malaysia and Korea.

In 1985, the Government of Italy conferred the Grand Officer of The Order of The Merit of The Republic of Italy.

In 1989, conferred "The Man of The Year Award" by the International Road Federation at Las Vegas for outstanding achievements as Minister of Works, Malaysia.

In 1989, he was made an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Chartered Institute of Building, United Kingdom.

In the same year he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Annamalai University, India.

In 1991, he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Law by University of Keele, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

In 1998, he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Education by the Northern Territory University of Australia.

In 2003, the Minister was conferred one of India's highest award, the "Pravasi Bharatiya Samman" by the Government of India in New Delhi.

Also in 2003, he was awarded the "Malaysia Water Award for Management 2003" by the Malaysian Water Association.

Jokes

Due to his controversial presence in Malaysian politics and his penchant for foot-in-the-mouth moments, Samy Vellu is often made the butt of jokes. Usually, these jokes involve quotes attributed to him that are difficult to be verified.