Samy Vellu’s name still making headlines despite retirement
“Don’t go to the moon during the day because it is hot. Instead go at night” is one of the infamous quotes made by former MIC president Samy Vellu.
Samy Vellu, who was also the former Work Minister, had served as the parliamentary member of Sungai Siput from 1974 to 2008. In GE-12, he lost his seat to Michael Jeyakumar (PSM). Yet, he only retires from the political scene two years later, in 2010.
Nevertheless, Samy Vellu did not fade out from the public eye completely. He was appointed as Malaysia’s Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and Southern Asia in 2011, but the appointment was revoked when Pakatan Harapan took over as government.
Prior to GE-14, Samy came out to campaign for MIC/Barisan Nasional. He said that the people should vote for the current leadership. Recently, in March 2019, Samy Vellu name spiked again in the media.
Former MIC Sungai Siput division chief M. Lokanathan lodged a report to the MACC, alleging Samy Vellu to be involved in a corrupt land deal. He added that Samy bought 40.87 hectare of lands at Sungai Siput from plantation workers’ cooperation in 2005. Plus, the deal was made far below the market price. Each hectare was sold to Samy for RM11,000 against the market price at that time, RM68,000 per hectare.
However, Samy Vellu nor the authorities from MACC responded to the report launched by M. Lokanathan. The former MIC president has retired for almost a decade. Does he has a skeleton in his closet?