MIC wants Sungai Siput back

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC, now reduced to just one MP in the outgoing Dewan Rakyat, is bent on retaking the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat, which was once the fortress of its former president Tun S. Samy Vellu, who died recently.

The candidate it has lined up for the seat is current president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran.

“I hope I will be contesting in Sungai Siput,” Vigneswaran told reporters on the sidelines of the MIC annual general meeting here yesterday.

“That’s what I am thinking of. I cannot go to a new place. There’s not enough time,” he said, adding that MIC would be contesting for nine parliament seats and 18 state seats.

However, Vigneswaran said it was possible that MIC might go for more than nine MP seats.

For the record, Samy Vellu was Sungai Siput MP for eight terms from September 1974 to March 2008, when he lost to Dr M. Jeyakumar of PSM.

PKR’s Kesavan Subramaniam won the seat in the last General Election in 2018, beating MIC’s Datuk Seri S. K. Devamany.

Strategic partners: Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (third from left) with Vigneswaran (second from left), along with (from left) Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and Umno’s Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein at MIC’s 76th general meeting. — Bernama

Vigneswaran said coordinators had already been appointed in certain areas two or three years ago and they were already working on the ground.

“We are confident as they have already met the locals and worked well with the Malays, Chinese and Indians,” he said.

However, Vigneswaran said there could be some changes.

“To a large extent, people who are holding positions will be given a seat,” he said when asked if all the party top guns would be contesting.

He said MIC was also looking at about 70% female candidates and fresh faces.

MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, the Tapah MP, said it was likely that he would defend his seat.

“If the president says I have to contest in Tapah, I’ll contest. So far, I don’t see otherwise,” he told reporters.

He said MIC and Umno are strategic partners. “Today you can see the relationship between Umno and MIC. It is not a master-servant relationship. We are strategic partners,” he said on the sidelines of the AGM.

“Maybe once upon a time it was a master-servant relationship. Not anymore,” he said.

He added that MIC could not deliver without the undivided support of the Indian community.

“Over the last three years, we have proven that so many things were done,” he said.

Saravanan said that although Pakatan Harapan was only the Federal Government for 22 months, it had been the state government in Penang and Selangor for several terms, and yet the problems in these states had not been resolved.

“Have they solved all the land issues? Have they solved all the housing issues? Have they made all the Indians rich?” he asked.

“The Indians in Penang and Selangor are still suffering,” he claimed. “So don’t say ‘we only had 22 months and we need more time’,” he added.