COMMENT Lately, S Samy Vellu the former MIC long-term president and the current Special Ambassador of Infrastructure for South Asian Countries, is rearing his "ugly head" in the realm of Malaysian politics.

He has made a strong appearance in the media by coming to the defence of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on the 1MDB issue.

Najib should realise that if Samy is coming to his defence then he needs no enemies.

Samy, one-time strongman of MIC and who allegedly used gangsters to control the party to remain in power, hardly has the credibility and honesty to comment political issues and what is more on matters of corruption and financial scandals.

Samy should just shut-up and let the law enforcement agencies to determine whether Najib is guilty or not.

How does he know that the allegations against Najib are not without any basis?

He is chastising Dr Mahathir Mohammed ( photo ), his former boss, for making allegations of corruption and financial misdeeds against Najib without any material basis.

It is obvious that Najib has received the 1MDB funds into his account and he is not denying it. Neither is he suing The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ) for making this serious allegation.

His letter to WSJ was meant to seek clarification so that he could mislead the kampong folks that he is indeed taking action against WSJ .

But WSJ is prepared to face the legal battle in court.

Samy seen with Najib on few occasions

Either Samy does not know the head or tail about the 1MDB issue, or he is simply pretending and giving press comments so that Najib could invite him to discuss how funds could be distributed to the Indian community.

Knowing Samy, he has an interest in this.

Apparently, Samy has been seen in the company of Najib on few occasions.

On one occasion, he requested some special funding to assist the Indian community from Najib. Whether or not Najib is pleased with Samy remains in doubt.

But given the overwhelming opposition to him over the 1MDB issue, Najib needs as many friends as possible, even the ones who have been accused of corruption earlier.

In other words, Najib is in a position where he cannot afford to choose his friends!

Maybe Samy, the “cunning fox”, realises this!

As I have said earlier in my various commentaries particularly in the Tamil dailies, Samy should just resign from his present post as he has not contributed anything by way of infrastructure development to the benefit of Malaysia.

He was given this post earlier merely to stop him from interfering with the developments in MIC.

However, there are no indications that he has stopped interfering in the present on-going internecine conflict in the party between G Palanivel, the president and S Subramaniam, his deputy.

Why is Samy so keen to meddle in the affairs of the MIC?

Not that he loves the party; rather he wants to ensure that whoever takes over the party must ensure that his personal interests and that of his family are taken care of.

It is obvious that G Palanivel, once his yes-man, has fallen out of favours with him.

Palanivel who is in a bitter power struggle with Subramaniam has made it known on many occasions that he would not allow MIC to be managed by a proxy of Samy.

Yes, Samy was the longest-serving MIC president, over 20 years.

He was a loyal "servant" of Mahathir and UMNO. He did all the “dirty work” of Umno by curbing the dissenting voice of Indians in the party.

Samy expects Najib to sack Palanivel

During his tenure, MIC was beset with huge financial scandals that have never been explained until today.

Shares for the Indian community from Telecoms were allegedly hijacked and disposed of by three RM2 companies. If these shares had rightfully gone to Maika Holdings, the company would have been worth RM1 billion then!

There are serious allegations that land, shares and properties purchased for the sole purpose of uplifting the Indian community are now being owned by individuals and private companies.

These outfits have no relationship with the Indian community whatsoever. Even the ownership of the land beside the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur apparently does not belong to the party.

Samy conveniently forgets his past when he comes to the defence of Najib.

By defending Najib, he hopes that he would be the main beneficiary of the funds meant for the Indian community.

His proxy in MIC is none other than the present ineffectual Subramaniam, the Health Minister.

Most importantly, Samy expects that if Najib succeeds in riding the present crisis, then he would be able to dominate the affairs of the MIC.

He expects Najib to sack Palanivel ( photo ), at any time.

But Palanivel is not willing to leave without exposing the past misdeeds of Samy. Remember, Palanivel was a loyal lieutenant for a number of years and most probably holds the “secrets” of his former boss.

Samy considered as the man behind the present Indian backwardness, might not have his way this time around.

He might soon realise that supporting Najib is like supporting a “dead horse” in the realm of Malaysian politics.

Too much of Samy is not good for Indians and for Malaysians. He should quit before Najib beats him to it!

P RAMASAMY is Penang Deputy Chief Minister II and Perai state assemblyperson.

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