KS Nallakarupan is not interested in party posts. According to the 61-year-old businessman, he has returned to active politics to help his friend, Anwar Ibrahim, and the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

How did you get started in politics?

V David (founder) of (Social Justice Party of Malaysia) Pekemas used to take me around with him for his campaigns in the 1970s. Then, I was with Gerakan for some time. Around the early 1980s, I decided to join (current MIC president) S Samy Vellu. I was a member and branch chairman in Bukit Bandaraya in Bangsar.

I stood for MIC Youth, and won the highest votes. Samy Vellu appointed me as the deputy chief of the national youth wing.

After I left MIC, I went into business.

When was that?

In 1989. They also closed my branch because politically I was supporting (former MIC deputy-president) S Subramaniam. After that, I decided not to join any political party. I went into business.

I still have many politicians as friends, including in MCA, MIC, opposition parties, Umno. I used to mix with all the politicians, although I was not involved in politics. For me, anybody can be a friend, whether opposition or ruling. In politics, you can be here, I can be there. But tomorrow, when he retires and I have retired, we have to be friends. There's no permanent enemy in politics.

Are you still friends with Samy Vellu?

Yes. We are very good friends. Family friendship is different from business, and both are different from politics. I consider Subramaniam as my friend. I don't treat them as enemies just because they are in the ruling party.

How did your friendship with PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim begin?

Anwar is a very, very old friend. We are family friends. Our friendship goes back about 30, 35 years. His father was staying in PJ and I used to visit them.

How did you become known as his tennis partner?

That's how I'm known to the world, huh? 'Anwar's tennis partner Nallakaruppan.' As friends, we used to go to the club once in a while and play with some other friends.

Do you still play tennis?

No. I don't play tennis anymore. Because of playing tennis, I got into problems (in 1998). Nobody in the world ever got into political problems by playing tennis, but I did.

For health reasons, also, I have decided not to play tennis (anymore).

Your health is suffering?

When I was there in detention in the Sungai Buloh prison (1998-1999), I developed asthma and bronchitis.

During the early reformasi period, one of the allegations that surfaced against you is that you supplied women to Anwar. You did not have a chance to address this allegation in court. Can you comment about this accusation?

I think we shall leave that issue. The past is past. I don't want to go into that matter again. I don't think about that past. My suffering in the Sungai Buloh prison and prior detention in (the federal police headquarters in) Bukit Aman are enough for me. I don't want to dwell on that again and again.

My children, my wife and my friends have advised me not to think of the past. So I don't want to think of it. Others want to think and talk about it, that is their business. For myself, I want to think of my future.

Do you feel any resentment or bitterness against the government for having raised these allegations?

At that time in prison, I was a bit unhappy with what they were doing to me. I was very unhappy. But now I take it easy. I'm trying to forget about that episode.

In your affidavit, you claimed the police had put a noose around your neck to intimidate you and squeeze you for evidence to use against Anwar.

I don't want to recollect that. I don't want to have sleepless nights anymore.

About that particular experience, about rumours that they threatened me, put me on the trap, the noose, all those things - no, that type of thing did not happen. There were a lot of rumours. But they did tell me that my sentence is (liable to death). They charged me under that.

So all the stories about you being brought to the gallows are just rumours?

That's what I said. Don't bring me to that episode in my life again. Let me live a new life.

At one point, there were even rumours that I had died in prison. They put the newspapers with that heading in my house at four in the morning: 'Dato Nalla died in prison'.

Who started these rumours?

I don't know. But these are the types of rumours they start. I was safe, everything was safe, but rumours that I had died in prison started making their rounds.

After a year in prison and your 1999 acquittal by the Court of Appeal, you left the country with your family and stayed in India, the US and then in Australia. Why did you leave?

I wanted to be with my children and to be with my wife. For one year, I had not been with my children. So the day I came out, my friends advised me to go for a holiday and stay with my family.

In addition, a lot of people were coming to my house to see me, which was inconvenient for the family. So that same evening, I made my decision and we left for overseas the next day.

That (my children) was not at the age for a father to have left the family and live one year away in prison. If they are matured, that is different. The oldest was seven years old.

You were working overseas or had businesses overseas?

I used to help some friends, tried to survive.

What businesses are you involved in presently?

A friend is a developer. He used to ask me to help, and so now I help him.

You joined PKR in August 2006, bringing with you 2,000 members. How many MIC members have you brought into the party since?

I think, all in, we have brought in more than 10,000 Indians to join PKR. There are also a lot of supporters.

I've no exact figures, but everywhere they're asking to officiate their functions. They want to join PKR, they have their forms ready. I told them to hand over the forms to the (PKR) headquarters, but they don't want to. They want to see me personally.

Now, in every state (Indians are joining). Just two days ago (vice-president) Mustapa Kamil (Ayub) called me and asked me to go to Perak. He said there will be a lot of people joining and he asked me to come and talk to the Indians there.

In Rawang, the other day, there were 800 new members. They wanted to see me, they wanted to talk to me, they wanted to join PKR.

Even the Malays have said I have to be vice-president to look after the Indians' welfare. The members decided I have to go for vice-president.

If I collected all the forms that have been submitted along with the ones they are keeping ready, by now, there must be about 20,000 new Indian members. I just do not have enough time to go everywhere I'm wanted. My health also prevents me from doing so.

These 20,000 include those who have (filled) their forms already, they want me to give talks. Only then they will join, they say. They want me to be there, they want me to go to their place.

They keep on coming, there's no end to it. They keep on coming, they keep on calling me. The Indians this time are really going all out. The support for me is very good.

Did they join PKR because of you or some other reason?

They want a change.

It's also because I joined the party. They want somebody in the party to follow. They want to follow me. All this while in PKR, there's nobody who has gone to the field like this to bring in new members.

Now that Anwar is going to lead PKR, that makes a lot of people want to join PKR as well. They come and ask me, 'Is it definite that Anwar is taking over the party?'

Your entry into PKR has been said to have created tensions among some of PKR's Indian members, who are concerned that the 'MIC culture' will be imported into the party. What is your response to this?

When I joined the party in August 2006, I had read about that in malaysiakini . (PKR youth vice-chief) S Manikavasagam said he had issued that (statement). Now, Manikavasagam is with me, and he's all out campaigning for me. He has told me that some of his friends had advised him to issue that previous statement. They were scared of me entering the party.

I told him, 'Never mind. Past is past. Now, we all work together.' That is how I feel. Now Manikavasagam is going all over Perak and Kedah campaigning for me.

In politics, people will poke you in the back. I have never poked anybody's back. In my life, I've always been a straightforward man.

These fears are gone. You see how (vice-president) R Sivarasa is with me. He agreed that I can do something for the Indians. They understand, and they don't think I'm against anybody or with anybody. I'm in the party to help the party and to help my friend Anwar Ibrahim.

How do you see yourself contributing to PKR?

How others contribute, I contribute the same way. I used to be well-known when I was in MIC. The Indians know me. When a well-known man in the country joins another party, you have your followers coming forward.

On the road, if you stop the first Indian you meet, he may not know which party Dato Nalla is in. You stop the second Indian, he will know. 'Where is Dato Nalla? Dato Nalla is in PKR.' I've made it known to the people, to the public, that I am in this party.

Now the Indian public is thinking 'PKR means Dato Nalla, PKR is Dato Nalla.' That is the talk among the Indians. That has never happened in the past eight years since the party started.

Without any position, I can bring in people. If I become vice-president of the party, imagine what more can happen - there will be thunderstorms and earthquakes in the party.

Are you ready to stand for the general elections?

That, I will leave to Anwar. They ask me to stand, I will stand. They don't want me to stand, I won't stand. I don't fight for places. Even when I joined the party, I never asked Anwar to give me a position. Never.

(With 10,000 new members), they know now this man can work, that he can bring people into the party. Even the Malay members in the party are nominating me for vice-president. The first nomination I got was from Sabak Bernam, from (PKR Supreme Council member, Sabak Bernama division chief) Dr Badrul Amin Bahron.

How many nominations for vice-president do you have ? Where have the nominations come from?

I think officially 19 (nominations) - Sabak Bernam, Merbok, Parit Sulong, Gombak, all over the place.

What are your political aspirations? You've mentioned previously that you aim at bringing Anwar back into the political arena and to work towards eradicating poverty. What is your agenda/plan of action in achieving this?

I want to strengthen the party with the Indians. That is the important target for me now. But I am not only for the Indian community. We are a multi-racial party. I'm for everybody.

Nalla returns with a bang