YOURSAY 'Samy Vellu doesn't have any magic - his only skill as a magician was to make many millions of ringgit disappear.'

Samy 'magic' may not work in Sungai Siput

Raja Chulan: BN Sungai Siput candidate SK Devamany knows that having Ex-MIC chief S Samy Vellu around during campaigning will lose him many votes.

For Samy to have Devamany win by himself will make Samy look bad. How can Devamany win when the lord himself (Samy) lost previously?

Samy has therefore devised a clever strategy for a win-win situation for himself, that is to get involved as the BN director of elections.

If Devamany wins, then Samy can claim credit and that he (Samy) has also now gotten his revenge for his previous lost to PSM's D Jeyakumar. If Devamany loses, then he will spin that he (Samy) would have been a more winnable candidate.

Either way he satisfies his big ego. He is a very devious politician just like his mentor former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and I can already foresee big trouble brewing for the current MIC president G Palanivel.

James Bond 007: Samy Vellu doesn't have any magic - his only skill as a magician was to make many millions of ringgit disappear.

SS Dhaliwal: The people in Sungai Siput seem to run to the politicians for the slightest things. If you need a loan, go the bank and if you have a broken arm, go the hospital.

A MP is not there to solve your household problems. You must vote with your conscience. Is BN a moral party? Is it not a corrupt party? Will they clean the electoral roll? Will they abandon their racist ideologies? Will they give you free education? Will they reduce the price of petrol?

These are the questions everyone should be asking, including Sungai Siput folk. The answer is clearly no, as we have seen from their rule for 55 years.

Stop being simple-minded people, Sungai Siput folk, this time don't vote for the individual but for the party, Pakatan, of course.

Faz: If Malaysians are still tied to the notion that MPs and state assembly representatives are there to help them solve their everyday problems, then we will be playing into Umno-BN's hands and will never get out of the quagmire, maybe forever.

If the preference boils down to ‘these type of services', especially with monetary handouts, then Umno-BN has perfected the art of letting the voters get a pittance during the campaign, while they during the duration of the government and behind the voters' back, steal millions for themselves and their cronies.

Unless we educate these simple-minded voters of their political responsibilities, Umno-BN is going to let them be as ignorant as possible.

Wong Lu Shin: I am saddened by the small-minded mentality of the interviewees in this Malaysiakini report - only interested when politicians turn up to offer goodies, but no concern whatsoever about the national economy, jobs, education, public services, etc.

RK: It seems the culture is that you vote for a candidate if you have personally gained or will gain something from that candidate or party.

It is unhealthy because this is not the function of the MP and there is no way any MP can accommodate thousands of voters and make each and everyone happy. MPs are not supposed to look into drains, public amenities, etc - that's the work of the local council.

Since the public delivery system is so bad, these politicians can come in as heroes to save the day even though that was not their original function.

So there will never be any incentive to improve public service delivery as the inefficiency is the only way to justify our elected representatives' existence.

Clever Voter: There is certainly a need to raise citizens' awareness of their basic rights, and access. At the same time, they need to be reminded that MPs are not meant to do what local government was created to do the work.

Macro policies may be far removed from constituents but those who aspire to be MPs must be prepared to do their job in formulating monetary, fiscal and social policies. Let the local matters be left to those with state assembly positions.

Open Minded: MIC is having its graveyard days and hoping for a miracle of sorts. It is solely responsible for its own decline and eventual annihilation. Samy, don't try again to build a bridge where there is no water running underneath.

Magnus: No amount of voodoo from any dodo will help MIC resurrect itself. From "The Pergau Dam Affair" by Sir Tim Lankester published in 2013: Page 52, paragraph 4:

"Samy Vellu was the leader of one of the smaller political parties, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), which was a member of the ruling coalition. He became energy, telecommunications and posts minister in May 1989, two months after Mrs Thatcher's offer of aid.

"He was another who was not above mixing personal and official business. From his time as works minister up until 1989, he had a murky reputation for inappropriate financial dealings, and this reputation continued in his new role as energy minister."

Page 53, para 5: "As for Samy Vellu, he may have seen financial advantage for himself and his political party in backing the project.

"There were later suggestions, though none proven, that he was suborned into backing Pergau; it was also suggested that he and the MIC benefited inappropriately from the privatisation of TNB."

Doc: Samy's 'magic' may not work in Sungai Siput. It certainly has not worked; he has not disappeared yet.

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