Former MIC president Samy Vellu has attributed his surprise defeat in the last general election to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, alleging the former premier had worked against him in the 2008 general election.

In an interview with New Sunday Times published today, Samy said the high number of spoilt votes in the constituency of Sungai Siput he had won so many times was Mahathir’s doing.

“...Where did the 1,001 spoilt votes come from? Because of his (Mahathir’s) advice to Malay voters, he told Umno, don’t vote for Samy Vellu,” he is quoted as saying.

samy vellu and mahathir Samy says in the interview that  he was later approached by voters who told him: “Do you know why we did not vote for you? Mahathir told us not to vote for you.”

All this was done, Samy said, because Mahathir held a grudge against him for opposing the entry of the Indian Progressive Front (IPF) into Barisan Nasional despite all the other component parties favouring the move.

Even though this had hurt him, Samy says, he still respects Mahathir and that working with the former premier for 22 years was the “greatest experience” for him.

‘MIC machinery not working’

In the interview, Samy was coy about the state of MIC today when asked if he had left the party in good hands.

“I have left the party. I don’t want to make any comments but I only hope that the party is built to the same strength it was,” he tells the New Sunday Times .

Despite a looming early polls, Samy said the MIC machinery has yet to mobilise.

“It’s not just about leaders moving here and there. At every place, the local machinery has to work, similarly the Indian vote machinery has to work,” he said, warning that this could cost MIC to “lose some votes here and there”.

The March 8, 2008 debacle, Samy said, was because the government then did not understand the importance of the Indian vote.

He told the English weekly that since then, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has led a “mentality change” of the government to help the Indian community.

However, he denied that Hindraf had any role in achieving recognition for the Indian community.

“No, no, no, no. If Hindraf is responsible for this, why didn’t they do it 10 years earlier,” he is quoted as saying.

Hindraf had in 2007 led ten of thousands of Indians onto the streets of Kuala Lumpur to protest the marginalisation of the community.