Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Anwar Ibrahim is not qualified to talk about the Maika Holdings scandal as he had helped put a lid on the issue when he was in power.

In an article published in Ijok.net , former Malaysia Nanban journalist Mohanan Perumal said Anwar was anything but helpful regarding this issue when he was finance minister and deputy prime minister.

In 1993, he said the Tamil daily was flooded with phone calls from people wanting to know what had happened to the Telekom shares given to Maika Holdings, the investment arm of MIC.

"I tried very hard to get the facts concerning this matter. Anwar sidestepped my questions (then).

During one press conference at the Parliament lobby, I tried asking him about the issue. He avoided it and said, ' cukuplah ' (enough) and ' arikatho ' - the signal to his bodyguards to end the press conference. The bodyguards pushed me aside, and out of anger I uttered a swear word."

According to Mohanan, who is currently studying in London, the incident made it to the front-page of Tamil Nesan under the heading 'Tamil daily reporter unhappy with answer on Maika Holdings shares scolds Anwar with foul language'.

Tamil Nesan belongs to MIC president S Samy Vellu who has been the subject of much criticism over the shares issue. Over the years, numerous reports have been filed with the police and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) against the veteran politician regarding this scandal.

Malaysia Nanban , on the other hand, was linked to Samy Vellu's rival and then deputy S Subramaniam.

Different tunes

Meanwhile, Mohanan said on the same day Anwar's bodyguards had shoved him, the former finance minister, in reply to a question raised by opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in Parliament later, said that Telekom shares were given to Maika Holdings and everything was done according to law.

When the ACA commenced an investigation against Maika Holdings, Mohanan said he met Anwar again at the Finance Ministry.

"He told me while laughing, '...Haa, many shares have been allocated, but if given to MIC, there will be more problems'."

"Now I understand that Anwar has been talking about this issue again and has said that he will expose all the facts.

"If this is true, why didn't he expose the facts when he was still finance minister and deputy prime minister? Why didn't he work with ACA then to help the Indian community?" asked the former journalist.

Mohanan said he was not stating this out of dislike for Anwar but rather because he felt it was wrong for the PKR leader to use this issue to garner Indian votes in the Ijok by-election.

"If Anwar feels Telekom shares did not reach the Indian community, it is not only Samy's fault, but Anwar as finance minister should have ensured that the shares were channeled effectively.

"Back then, Anwar said whatever Samy did was according to law, now he says it was wrong. Which is the truth?"

"Now, Anwar feels the shares were not used for upgrading the Indian community. But he did not care what happened to the community back then, now he pretends to love the Indians," he added.

Mohanan said although Samy Vellu gets angry now and then, he definitely "loves" the Indian community more than Anwar and this was illustrated in the many projects initiated by him for the betterment of the community.