Veteran ethnic Indian leader Samy Vellu, Malaysia's new envoy on infrastructure, is heading to New Delhi this week to scout for opportunities for Malaysian businesses to foray into the Indian market.
A whopping Rs 140 crore suit has been filed against veteran Malaysian Indian politician Samy Vellu by the educational arm of his party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), accusing him of misappropriation. The Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), the educational arm of the MIC, the country's largest Indian based political party said the sum 100 million ringgit (Rs 140 crore) included special and general damages.
After heading Malaysia's largest ethnic Indian party for over three decades, Samy Vellu on Monday stepped down as Malaysian Indian Congress president at a time when the party is exploring ways to regain the confidence of the Indian community in the country.
Malaysia's oldest Hindu temple, the Sri Maha Mariamman temple, is now on a postage stamp.
Facing unprecedented protests against alleged marginalisation of ethnic Indians, Malaysian Premier Abdullah Badawi has assured the community that he will look into their grievances and address them accordingly.
Malaysia is facing tremendous pressure to release five members of the Hindu Rights Action Force, who were detained under the draconian Internal Security Act last November, for organising a massive rally against the government. Former Works Minister and Malaysian Indian Congress leader S Samy Vellu has joined opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in calling for the release of the five men, who were detained without trial for an indefinite period for being a national security threat.
Samy Vellu, the President of the Malaysian Indian Congress, met Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar and urged him to end the ban on the recruitment of priests from India. Vellu told the minister that the temples and gurdwaras in Malaysia urgently needed approximately 500 and 300 priests respectively.The minister told Vellu that the matter had to be brought up at Cabinet level for the decision to be revoked.
The incident happened after Vellu, who is chief of Malaysian Indian Congress, finished performing the ceremony on Wednesday.
Referring to a comment in a blog that Abdullah had asked him to resign and not seek re-election, Vellu said those spreading such 'lies' on the Internet and via SMS were 'mad'.
The task of monitoring has been given to Works Minister Samy Vellu, who said no temple, whether legal or illegally built, will be demolished without a thorough check and discussions with his Malaysian Indian Congress, a component of the ruling coalition.
Malaysian Indian Congress president S Samy Vellu assured that the government was taking steps to improve the lot of the Indians in the country.
The final plan for the all-India express highway project, including the estimate cost, will be completed shortly.
Despite having lost his parliamentary seat to opposition PKR's Michael Jeyakumar by 1,821 votes after eight successive terms, Vellu said that he will remain as president of the Malaysian Indian Congress. The MIC could retain only three of its nine parliamentary seats and seven of the 19 state seats allocated to it.
Malaysia has frozen the recruitment of Indian workers, including temple priests, sculptors and musicians, a move apparently linked to the recent mass protests by the ethnic Indians here against their alleged marginalisation.
The MIC is the third largest party in National Front, representing ethnic Indians who comprise less than 10 percent of Malaysia's 25 million population.
With two ministers and four deputy ministers, the minority community will have better representation in the government to look into the well-being of Malaysian Indians, the New Straits Times said on Thursday.
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