Samy promises new faces for GE

RK Anand Dec 22, 07 6:54pm

MIC’s elected representatives who have reached the ‘fatigue stage’ would be dropped and replaced by new faces in the coming general election, said the party’s president S Samy Vellu today."Looking at the situation, I am going to do many changes. This is sure to happen," he said when interviewed in RTM's Tamil talkshow "Karuthu Kalam" or "Opinion Forum" aired over RTM2 today.

Samy spoke about wide-ranging issues from when he entered politics and the challenges being faced by the party and the Indian community."Normally, I introduce new faces in elections and I assign them special tasks."Since I work long hours, I can't be monitoring them all the time.

That will affect my job," he said.He said he could tell them about their responsibilities during the MIC's monthly central working committee (CWC) meetings."Few are clear about their duties and carry out their responsibilities accordingly (but) some have reached the fatigue stage," he said.At present MIC has nine members of Parliament and 19 state representatives.

Many would see the proposal to introduce new faces by the party in the coming general election as a way by Samy to recapture the trust of the Indian community.The Indian community has been quite critical in the recent past over what is seen as the party’s and its leaders’ failures to uplift the community. We have benefited

Samy also said that he entered politics in 1957 "with a view to change the condition of the Indian community"."That was one of the main reasons for me to join politics. It was permanently in my mind. I kept thinking for ways and means to create a better situation to upgrade the condition of the community."When I became president of MIC in 1979, I realised that only by transforming the community into an educated community, we would be able to compete and be on par with others," he said.He also said that he has not stopped fighting for the community in his 29 years of service as a minister.

He is presently the works minister."I have talked everything. I can tell one thing to those who ask on what I've done. I can't reveal what I've talked, what I've fought in the cabinet."We have taken an oath of secrecy and we should not reveal anything that have been decided in the cabinet because those government documents are classified as official secrets," he said.

To a question, the MIC chief said not all the requests made by the MIC were put aside by the government."During the 29 years, when we request for 20, we get 10. So we have always benefited. We can't say we didn't get anything. “I have records on what we have got. I know how the government has been channelling the assistance," he added