MIC President S Samy Vellu today said he would not be offering himself for a cabinet post in the new administration to be established by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Samy Vellu was the works minister in the last cabinet. He had held that ministerial post on two occasions - from 1979 to 1989 and then again from 1995 until the parliament was dissolved on Feb 13.
In between, he also served as the minister of energy, telecommunications and posts from 1989 to 1995. He made his entry into the government as a deputy minister of local government and housing in 1978 before his promotion to full ministership the following year.
Speaking to reporters today, Samy Vellu said that he would not be seeking a senatorship as a back way for him to return to the cabinet.
He added that he wanted to concentrate on party matters, trying to strengthen the party and recouping the lost trust among the Indian community.
Samy Vellu has been MIC’s president since 1979. It is widely speculated that this would be his last term as the party president. The next party polls are due in 2009.
MIC suffered a humiliating blow in the recently concluded general election with many of its representative suffering heavy defeats in the midst of a swing among the voters which resulted in unprecedented number of wins for the opposition parties.
MIC contested to regain its nine Parliament seats and 19 state seats, managing to win only three Parliament and six state seats.
Samy Vellu himself suffered an unexpected loss in Sungai Siput, a seat which he has held since 1974.
When asked about MIC’s representatives in the cabinet, Samy Vellu said that he has submitted names to the prime minister.
It is learnt that he has submitted the names of the three MIC parliamentarians - Dr S Subramaniam (party secretary general and Segamat MP), K Devamany (central working committee member and Cameron Highlands MP) and M Saravanan (party information chief and Tapah MP).
New face Saravanan, also the Federal Territory MIC chief, is seen as a favourite to be offered a minister’s post.
(link: http://malaysiakini.com/news/79679)
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