DAP’s P Ramasamy, criticising Samy Vellu for refusing to join the campaign, speculated that Samy Vellu had succumbed to “the need to survive and amass wealth” by declaring his strong support for Najib.
Ramasamy, in a statement today, said Samy Vellu had left the Indian community “in a terrible lurch” during the years he was MIC president.
He criticised Samy Vellu for abandoning Mahathir, whom he described as Samy Vellu’s “long-time friend” and whom Samy Vellu had described as the “greatest gift” to the Indian community with a better understanding of the community’s needs because he was of Indian ancestry.
On Saturday, Samy Vellu was quoted as saying he did not join in “that little fight” by Mahathir because he always supported the ruling prime minister, and he had not been asked to be a signatory to the Citizens’ Declaration launched by Mahathir earlier this month.
Ramasamy pointed out that Samy Vellu had contributed to “the enrichment of his cronies and family members” during his long years as works minister in Mahathir’s government.
During that time he had been a vociferous supporter of Mahathir and would praise Mahathir as one of the greatest prime ministers of Malaysia and pretended that Mahathir was a “god”.
“But in secrecy he used to lament that under Mahathir the Indians suffered in the country,” said Ramasamy. “In eyes of the public, Mahathir and Samy were the greatest friends, but secretly they hated each other.”
Ramasamy said Mahathir was unable to remove Samy as the MIC president, despite many financial scandals, because of the iron grip that Samy Vellu held on the MIC. “Samy virtually reduced the party to nothing during his time,” said Ramasamy, marginalising or removing capable leaders such as K. Pathmanaban, S. Subramaniam and MG Pandithan.
He said Mahathir was not vehemently opposed to corruption if such a practice produced bumiputera millionaires, and Samy himself was accused of rampant corruption during his time.
Ramasamy contrasted Samy Vellu’s refusal to join the anti-Najib campaign with the willingness of former MCA president Ling Liong Sik.
“At least Ling is concerned about the fate of the country, but Samy does not care a damn,” Ramasamy said. “For him, rampant corruption and Najib are the least of his problems.”
He said Samy Vellu did not have Ling’s decency. He would have signed the declaration if he was serious about the welfare of Malaysian Indians.
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