It seems to be a season of forgiving in MIC. The party yesterday decided to forgive its former vice-president M Muthupalaniappan by reinstating him back into its fold.

Last week, he was sacked by the party’s disciplinary committee for making statements detrimental to the party and its president S Samy Vellu.

He was reinstated by the party’s central working committee yesterday on grounds of his loyal service and long membership.

It must be noted that Muthupalaniappan is contesting against Samy Vellu for the president’s post this year. The election is expected to be held in May.

While the highlight was fully on Muthupalaniappan’s re-entry to the party, another constant critic – a so-called rebel in the party - was also readmitted yesterday.

kp samy-mic Grassroots leader and former CWC member, KP Samy, was sacked from the party last January for openly supporting the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

It was mentioned at that time that the Hindraf link was just a timely excuse used by the party to sack Samy and shut down his Shahbandar Shah Alam MIC branch which had 300 members.

Until his sacking, Samy was known to be one of Samy Vellu's fiercest critics. He was also a loyalist of former deputy president S Subramaniam who had a running battle with the party president for years.

Even after his sacking, Samy continued to be critical of Samy Vellu and MIC. At one time, there were talks of him flirting very closely with the opposition parties with the intention of even joining them.

Last December he was still toying with the idea of forming a club of disgruntled/sacked/suspended MIC members, with the main aim of pressuring Samy Vellu to step down soon to make the party relevant once again.

‘I love this party’

However there were murmurs since the end of the year that he was being courted back into the party, especially now that his political mentor Subramaniam has mended his ways with Samy Vellu.

And it is learnt that he had a series of meeting with someone very close to Samy Vellu earlier this month – and the last meeting was on last Wednesday – to facilitate his entry back into the party, which was formally announced by the president yesterday.

When Malaysiakini contacted Samy to inquire more on his sudden decision to go back to MIC, his first response gave an indication as to why he decided to shake hands with his “enemy”.

“I am an out-and-out MIC man. I love this party. I owe it to this party for the things I have been able to do for the community,” he said.

“But don’t think for a moment that I have been bought by the powers-that-be in the party to be quiet from now on.

“I will continue to be a harsh and objective critic of the party. If I think the president is doing wrong, I will point it out to him,” he added.

polling day 080308 voters queing He said that he has not mellowed on his criticisms on how the party was being run, adding that he was still not happy with the manner the party had portrayed itself after the heavy losses it suffered in the general election last March.

“I am still not convinced of the rebranding exercise that’s being implemented by the party to make it more relevant. I think the party need to be more people-oriented. It has to go down to the grassroots, it must talk to the people to find out their problems.

“Leaders cannot just sit in their office, waiting for problems of the community to be brought to them. They will have to move down. I intend to do that and I hope all the other leaders in the party will do the same as well,” he said.

Going for CWC post

He said that he had no problems working with Samy Vellu for the sake of the community. At the same time, he said that he would not blindly be a follower of the president or his men as a gratitude for being allowed to be back in the party.

“I have decided not to be a supporter of any faction in the party. I have my branch with some 300 members. We will work out on our own for the community and we will also work with the party to make it relevant again,” he said.

“Just because I have agreed to come back to MIC after an absence of one year does not mean that someone has paid me money to join and I have to throw my support for that person.

“This has nothing to do with money. I am back because I want to help revive MIC and uplift the community. I am not a traitor to the community or the people for deciding to go back to MIC,” he said.

Samy said he was also told that almost all MIC leaders were happy to have him back, “except for maybe one or two”.

“But the ones who were against my return need not be worried. I am not after the positions in the party leadership. I will continue to do what I had been doing for the past 37 years as a member.”

When asked on his immediate plans now, Samy said that he would be offering himself for a CWC post in the coming party elections.

samy vellu He also said that Samy Vellu should make clear his exit plans and make public as to when he would be stepping down.

Samy also said that he would be explaining to the Indian community – especially those who support Hindraf – on his reasons to rejoin MIC.

“I am sure they will understand. They also know that it’s easier for me to do more for the community by being in Barisan Nasional and MIC,” he said.

He added that he would continue to be in touch with Hindraf leaders as “we share the same aims of making the community better”.