UPDATE:
The Public Fooled by BN for Candidate Selection for Hulu Selangor--- END OF UPDATE -----
Excerpts: Read here for more
".... Kamalanathan is a relative of Samy Vellu whom he can control, so Samy makes a pact with UMNO to play it for the public to ensure his hold on the party and the supporters are not affected. In this way, he would look good for the public as he can point out to the Indian voters that he had no choice but to abide by UMNO’s decision.
The hate factor, at least amongst the Malaysian Indians, at the moment is Samy Vellu. BN needed to engineer a way out to persuade those Indian voters there to vote for BN. Samy played the role assisted by UMNO on how to hoodwink the public and get the result they want without bringing Samy into the picture. This is a typical good cop, bad cop scenario.
Read here how Kamalanathan had been lobbied by Rocky Bru,UMNO's media spinner, in the Malay Mail.
The Barisan Nasional i.e. Umno, has REJECTED MIC President Samy Vellu's first choice, MIC Deputy President G Palanivel as the BN candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election, instead UMNO chose P Kamalanathan.
It is UMNO, and NOT MIC, which dictates who in MIC should stand for Hulu Selangor.
To put it bluntly, MIC has been dealt a slap, leaving its leaders red-faced with embarrassment.
MIC members and supporters are wondering what good is the MIC president who cannot convince the BN leadership to field the party's candidate, and who has to submit to the will of Umno?
Sources claim that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wants to prove that he could win Indian votes without Samy Vellu's MIC.
Najib has on numerous occasions, sidestepped Samy Vellu and MIC, when reaching out to Indian voters.
Now Samy Vellu has to swallow his pride and back Kamalanathan, setting aside the fact that it is Umno, and not MIC, which delivered the final verdict.
He would have to rally his demoralised soldiers on the ground to swing into action, after days of confusion as to who would be the candidate.
To make matters worse, if Kamalanathan wins, the MIC president would have nothing to gloat about, since it would be evident that it was the Umno gamble which paid off.
Samy Vellu would also have to convince Palanivel's supporters, who are seething with anger, that their leader had been led by the nose ring to the slaughter house.
It is an open secret that Palanivel wanted to contest in this by-election in order to pave the way for his return to Parliament, and possibly back into the Cabinet.
Palanivel, who was a four-term Hulu Selangor MP, is known to be a man of pride and would find this humiliation difficult to swallow. Talk is that he has been offered a senatorship, which would probably see him appointed as a deputy minister. The question is, would he accept it?
For now, Palanivel is still licking his wounds.
It is common knowledge that Najib views the veteran politician's continued presence at the helm as a major stumbling block in capturing the hearts and minds of the Indian community.
The decision by UMNO-BN to drop Palanivel would also have a significant impact on MIC, with members wondering what good is a deputy president with no clout.
In the final analysis, a victory for Kamalanathan would be a defeat for MIC.
RELATED ARTICLE
ZAID IBRAHIM DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST UMNO'S CHARACTER ASSASSINATION
(Zaid Ibrahim is the proposed PKR candidate for the Hulu Selangor By-Election)
Read here for more
As the shootout for Hulu Selangor draws near, the dirty campaign of Umno has begun in full swing. Predictably, Umno are not focusing on issues of the rakyat. Umno are focused on the only thing they know: to spread lies and misinformation.According to the Deputy Prime Minister and his hired hands, one of the issues plaguing my candidacy is my disciplinary record, of being suspended by Umno for money politics. They conveniently use this to accuse me of everything under the sun: being corrupt, greedy, wealthy, etc.
As always, the truth will set you free. It is perhaps something Umno is unfamiliar with. Time and time again, they continue to underestimate the intelligence of the rakyat and try to confuse them with fiction, but the rakyat knows better.
I have defended myself from these accusations many times, but will do so again. So here it is…
- In 2001, I won the contest for the post of Umno division chief for Kota Bharu. Took me three attempts and 10 years but I did it.
That left them with no choice but to field me as a candidate in the March 2004 general election. I won a hard fought contest for the Kota Bharu parliamentary seat, although the three State Assembly seats in that parliamentary constituency were won by PAS. (Somewhat similar to the present situation in Hulu Selangor: the three State seats were won by BN in 2008, and now I am trying to win it again for PKR.)
I expected a more supportive reaction from Umno — after 15 years of PAS rule BN had at last won in Kota Bharu. But it was not to be. They were ready to knife me again. - By June 2004, there was another contest in Umno Kota Bharu. I was able to retain the seat of division chief, uncontested. But other positions were up for grabs. In that contest, certain individuals issued complaints in false statutory declarations that I had given money to “my agent”, the late Datuk Zahari Wahab, in exchange for votes purportedly on my behalf.
I was charged on Oct 16, 2004 with money politics. Utterly ridiculous: I won the seat uncontested. How could I be charged with money politics when there was no contest? But within Umno, I guess anything is possible. - By the time of the first hearing before the Umno disciplinary board, Zahari Wahab had passed away. He, too, had been charged with money politics, which I believe was also false.
With his demise, the Umno disciplinary board could not put forth Zahari to support their claims. They did not put forth any other witness, only the false statutory declarations which I had no opportunity to challenge. I described the proceedings as a sham and that upset them. They were determined to pass judgment without any basis whatsoever.
It was clear that I was being framed. I questioned how the board could arrive at their decision without supporting proof or evidence. In the end, the Umno disciplinary board ruled that I was guilty of money politics but were willing to spare me on condition that I apologise for questioning their process and authority.
Under no circumstances was I ever going to apologise to them: to do so would be to implicitly admit guilt, and I was not going to compromise on principle and on my innocence. When I refused, the Umno board suspended me for three years. - In 2008, when I was made a minister, I did not wish for there to be any doubt as to my character and credibility as I undertook this important responsibility in what I considered to be a reformist Government. I wanted to clear my name of any suspicion. So I requested the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate me further. Until today they have not come forth with any outcome.
The truth is I had not done any of the things claimed by my opponents; that is why I was made a minister. - Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin suggested today that I was picked as the candidate for Hulu Selangor supposedly because of my deep pockets. My lovely wife and my daughter Alysha are very excited: they asked where did I hide my wealth and they insist I take them out shopping. Now, I’m in trouble!
I suggest it is best for the DPM to hold his tongue. It is not befitting of a DPM to stoop so low. - I was never wealthy, unlike other Umno ministers. I was a minister for only six months. Before that I was never a crony of anyone, nor had I obtained any concessions or APs or even blocks of shares.
I would be prepared to publicly disclose my possessions and my so-called "wealth" and that of my family and my children as well — on the condition that the DPM and his Cabinet colleagues do the same of their own possessions and that of their families, their children, and their nominees. - During my brief tenure as minister, (Tun) Pak Lah and I suggested that Cabinet Ministers should declare their assets to show that BN Ministers are clean and not afraid of full accountability and transparency. Many senior ministers opposed this. They opposed everything good that Pak Lah wanted to do. I wonder what the DPM has to say about this now.
If he hasn’t got anything useful to add, I suggest that we move on and address the issues I have raised for the people in Hulu Selangor, and the issues facing the country.
-Zaid Ibrahim
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