The Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH) is prepared to face Works Minister S Samy Vellu in court should he initiate legal action over its planned protest against his handling of recent infrastructural breakdowns.

Chinese-language dailies today quoted Samy Vellu as saying that he has engaged a lawyer to look into suing SCAH for defamation after it called for his resignation and announced plans to activate nationwide backing for this.

Contacted today, SCAH president Bong Hon Liong said the call for the minister's removal was not made in bad faith but only amounted to "telling the truth".

"SCAH is a non-profit organisation. Our concerns are based on the public interest. We were merely expressing the same concerns as others in relation to the problems involving the ministry," he said this morning.

"If the minister eventually decides to take legal action against us for expressing this concern, we welcome his decision."

Elaborating, Bong said he did not feel pressured by Samy Vellu's threat because he (Bong) is "backed by the people and justice will prevail".

However, he did register concern that the matter is being turned into a racial issue.

"Our views are about the issues and not the individual involved, so the question of ethnicity does not arise at all," he stressed.

Banner protest

To a question, Bong said SCAH would decide later whether or not to display a huge banner in front of the premises, calling for Samy Vellu's resignation.

"We will make the decision based on developments. The minister has been asked to submit a report to the prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi). If his explanations are found to be satisfactory, we may be able to find a better way to resolve the matter," he said.

Bong called for Samy Vellu's report to be made public because the people are entitled to know what has happened.

SCAH's socio-economic committee had planned to put up a banner on Monday with the words 'Samy must go, honk to support' at the overhead bridge in front of its building off Jalan Maharajalela in Kuala Lumpur. However, the plan was shelved.

The committee also issued a statement saying it would lobby for support from various groups nationwide in demanding the minister's resignation.

Not a racial issue

MIC Youth met to pass an emergency motion earlier this week, objecting to various calls for the resignation of Samy Vellu, the long-serving MIC president.

The Youth section asked why SCAH has never called for any Malaysian Chinese minister to step down, and warned it to cancel its plan to seek public support or face a massive protest in retaliation.

Committee chairperson Thay Peng Hong criticised this as an attempt to stir racial sentiments and to divert attention from the real issue.

"We should not exploit the frail racial relationships in this country or politicise the issue as a political plot ," he said.

He clarified that the committee has only issued one statement calling for Samy Vellu's resignation, in response to the minister's claim that SCAH has "frequently issued statements" to criticise him.

According to press reports, Samy Vellu held a 35-minute meeting with the prime minister yesterday to brief him on six problematic government projects under his ministry. He was quoted as saying that the premier is satisfied with his explanation.

Samy Vellu came under heavy fire last Tuesday in the Dewan Rakyat, when several Barisan Nasional backbenchers told him to step down.