KUALA TERENGGANU, 31 July 2009: The MIC today claimed that yesterday’s protest at the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur was purposely held to divert attention from the Kampung Buah Pala issue in Penang.
Both MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu and party secretary-general Datuk Dr S Subramaniam spoke in the same vein on the matter after they had opened the Terengganu and Kelantan MIC delegates conferences here and in Kota Baru respectively.
Samy Vellu said here the protest was not carried out by shareholders of Maika Holdings Bhd, the investment arm of the MIC, demanding their money back, but was in retaliation for the MIC’s offer to help settle the issue of eviction faced by villagers of Kampung Buah Pala, the site of which is to be developed.
The protest was led by several leaders from the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), including Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, reportedly to hand over a memorandum on claims by Maika Holdings shareholders.
Samy Vellu gave assurance that the MIC was prepared to pay back the Maika shareholders, but it could not do so now because of an injunction obtained by Koperasi Nesa Serbaguna Bhd, Maika’s single biggest shareholder headed by former MIC deputy president Subramaniam, against the sale of Maika Holdings’ subsidiary, Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd.
“I believe Subramaniam has to answer to the [Indian Malaysian community] on the Maika Holdings shares,” he said.
He also said that the Penang government helmed by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should be held responsible for the Kampung Buah Pala issue.
In KOTA BARU, Subramaniam said Ramasamy had tried to divert attention away from the unresolved Kampung Buah Pala issue, and advised the Indian Malaysian community not to be influenced by the DAP’s actions.
“By gathering the Indian [Malaysians at the MIC headquarters], one could divert the attention of the community from the real issue of Kampung Buah Pala, which involves the interests of Indian [Malaysians] in Penang.
“The group would not have gathered if not for political interests because the people have been informed of the truth,” he said. — Bernama
ganesh says
What was MIC’s motive in involving itself in the Kg Buah Pala issue now? What did [they] do for Kg Buah Pala or for Indian [Malaysians] in general all those years when it was in power? ZILCH.