KUALA LUMPUR, 9 April 2009: MIC politicians under the previous cabinet have been retained and not moved to other ministries in the cabinet of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
However, senator A Kohilan Pillay of Gerakan, who was previously the Plantation and Commodities deputy minister, has been moved to the Foreign Ministry.
MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S Subramaniam, the only Indian minister in the cabinet, has been retained as Human Resource Minister, while Datuk SK Devamany as deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department while Datuk M Saravanan kept his Federal Territories deputy minister post.
Devamany is MIC treasurer-general while Saravanan is party information chief.
Another deputy minister, T Murugiah of PPP, has also been retained as deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
The announcement of the cabinet by Najib this afternoon also doused speculation over the last few days that MIC would be allotted an extra minister or deputy minister’s post in the new cabinet.
There was also talk that Saravanan would be transferred to another ministry as speculation was rife that the Federal Territories Ministry would be disbanded and merged with the Housing and Local Government Ministry. However, this did not materialise.
The announcement also put to rest another speculation by the rumour mill that MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, who won the party post uncontested mid-last month, would be made senator and given a ministerial position.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is presently trying hard to woo Indian voters who had deserted the coalition in the 2008 general election, despite being traditional supporters of the BN. — Bernama
