GAS II stormed by Samy Vellu’s men

KLANG, July 4 — Chaos erupted at the Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu gathering here when the event was rudely interrupted by about 50 people, believed to be supporters of the party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

The group turned up before the event was scheduled to begin at about 1pm and began discouraging people from entering Dewan Dato Hamzah, where the gathering was being held.

Just before 2pm, a shouting match ensued outside the hall between the two factions and a minor scuffle followed when several men, engaged in a heated debate, began to shove each other around.

At 2pm, the rowdy group of Samy Vellu supporters pushed their way into the hall, shouting at the top of their lungs.

They are believed to be led by three key men — Selangor MIC information chief L. Siva Subramaniam, and two branch chairmen, one known as “Taman Maznah” Chandran, and another as Dharmalingam, a former Klang MIC division chief who currently sits as a director in the Port Klang Authority, an appointment made by Samy Vellu himself.

“Don’t you dare speak of MIC. Don’t you dare utter Samy Vellu’s name. Get out of this hall, stop this gathering,” they shouted as they made their way to the stage.

When they clashed with the organisers and supporters of the GAS gathering, another shouting match broke out.

More pushing and shoving were witnessed as the fight heated up quickly.

GAS supporters, led by sacked leaders V. Mugilan, K. P. Samy, G. Kumar Aamaan, former Petaling Jaya Barat MIC chief V. Subramaniam or “Bharat Maniam”, began yelling at the group to get out.

At one point, Samy, together with Kumar Aamaan, who was holding up a book called “The Life of Mahatma Ghandi”, began shouting “Ahimsa” which means a peaceful leadership style.

The chants grew louder as the GAS supporters who had begun piling into the hall, swelled to about 1,000 people.

Chandran, who was one of the most vocal of the group, then yelled at Samy, claiming that the latter had not done a single thing for the Indian community.

“If you had won in the elections and became an MP, would you still be here now? You have not given 5sen to the community,” he said.

Ignoring him, Samy then called the media up onstage for a press conference.

“We are not here to start trouble. This is a peaceful gathering but this is Samy Vellu’s style... he called in his gangsters,” he said.

He noted that they were willing to stop the gathering if the group of troublemakers insisted on causing havoc.

“We are all law-abiding citizens, we do not want violence. We will listen to the advice of the police,” he said.

Samy also called upon the Prime Minister to take note of Samy Vellu’s gangster-like leadership.

“He should act against these hooligans. They are the liabilities of the Barisan Nasional.

“We, on the other hand, just want peace. We want to submit our memorandum to the PM and call for an early retirement for Samy Vellu,” he said.

He also challenged Samy Vellu to declare publicly that Aimst University and MIED belonged to the Indian community and had not been “hijacked” by him.

“We will meet with the PM soon on this and on the Maika issue. There are over 60,000 shareholders, now only the PM can help,” he said.

Mugilan agreed that Samy Vellu was practising “gangster-style” politics and would be the BN’s greatest stumbling block in the next general election.

“This is how he controls the Indian community — with his gangsters.

“We do not pay our supporters to come but yet, they turn up in droves.

“So long as Samy Vellu is MIC president, the Indians will not support the BN. He is just a senile man,” he said.

At about 2.15pm, a group of policemen walked into the hall after they were informed that there were troublemakers attempting to disrupt the event.

The police spoke to the group of Samy Vellu supporters for several minutes before informing the GAS organisers that they could proceed with their event.

They however noted that the rowdy group would be allowed to stay in the hall for they had refused to leave.

When the shouting continued, however, at least half of the rowdy group were ushered out of the hall.

The three main leaders in the group of Samy Vellu’s supporters remained behind with a few of their men flanking them.

The event continued with a few speeches from the organisers but was continuously disrupted by insults thrown at them.

The din in the hall was too loud to hear what the sacked leaders were saying.

Despite this, GAS supporters cheered on cue at every punchline.

The tension in the air was almost palpable but the police kept a watchful eye on the crowd and was quick to lead away those who became too rowdy with their words.

At about 3.10pm, the function was declared over. No untoward incidences were reported.

When approached, Mugilan told The Malaysian Insider that GAS II had been successful due to the large turnout.

“We will keep fighting. We will keep coming up with more ideas and make sure Samy Vellu steps down as president soon,” he said.

He acknowledged that the MIC president had received a strong show of support from the party’s Youth, Wanita, Putera and Puteri wings during the launch of their annual general meeting earlier but insisted that this was because of their fear of Samy Vellu.

“He is a dictator. All who oppose him get sacked. They are afraid of him.

“I received many SMSes from our supporters who were in the AGMs just now and told me what happened,” he said.

Mugilan would not commit to a third GAS gathering but gave his assurance that the GAS efforts would continue.

All four GAS leaders were summarily expelled from the party when they dared to speak out against Samy Vellu, who has ruled the MIC for 31 years now.

The former Works Minister had announced recently that he would only step down by September next year, ahead of his term of expiration in May 2012, but this did not sit well with many party leaders who had wanted him to leave during the party’s AGM this July 10.