Nah … Here’s A Senator |
| Posted: 05 May 2010 04:01 AM PDT
Deputy President of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), G. Palanivel was sworned in as a Senator in the Dewan Rakyat on 3 May 2010. That's good for the Indian community. Regardless of his performance for the last 4 terms in Hulu Selangor, I have heard (from my own sources) that he too has contributed his fair share of his duties in that area for the last 20 years. Because voters appetide are always insatiable, they will always keep asking for more, and if you did not attend a function that they have organised (and there are many more excuses the electorates can give you), they will say you have not contributed/performed and therefore not fit to be fielded as a candidate. What is the criteria to judge whether an MP is performing or not performing? What is a good MP and what is not a good MP? At least now that he is a Senator (despite talk that this was a way to keep him silent and not make noise for not being chosen as the candidate for the Hulu Selangor By-Election), he should be able to use his new position to fight for the plight of the Indians in MIC and also his 'ex'-constituents in Hulu Selangor for the last 20 years. But this article is not about G. Palanivel, it's about Ezam, the ex-PKR Youth Chief who was also sworn in at the same time as Palanivel as a Senator. My question is, what has he done to deserve a seat in the Senate? By apologizing to the people of Hulu Selangor during the week-long campaign that he was wrong in criticising the Govt while he was in PKR? Is that it? Is that how UMNO rewards its 'rejects'? If that is the case, then we have a serious problem here. The Senate becomes a national dumping ground for 'political rejects' and 'political-frogs'. What is a criteria to becoming a Senator? Is this a favour-granting post that is used to keep people happy or entice people to hop over and become a political-frog? When has the 'honourable' institution of the Senate degraded to become like that? Instead of housing people who have contributed to the nation or are contributing to the nation, it has been used for other reasons (we call that patronage). Previously known as the Upper House, carrying a higher stature than the Dewan Rakyat, Senators are now not being given the respect that they should, much like the grand-title of Dato and/or Tan Sri, the streets are full of it, its becoming like a commodity!
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| Posted: 04 May 2010 10:48 PM PDT
I was asked by blogger Jed Yoong of "LurveWonderland" (her new blog after a long lapse from the cyberworld) to comment on what I had been upto in the last two years since the 12GE. Knowing well that an email response would not do justice to what I had to say, an interview was arranged so that we could explore further the topic at hand. In an open-fashion manner, Jed fired off her questions in successive rounds of probes as to what I think about various issues but most of them centred around the constituency of Batu and what I think about the ongoing court case involving Tian Chua and his police-biting incident. I gave a no-holds-barred response to all her questions and although the interview was a rather long one, but I think due to length-constraint, only a very small section of the interview appeared in her blog (which does not do justice nor was it able to capture the true spirit and essence of the question and answers for the day). The interview is found here. First of all, I would like to state that there is no "crew of 10″ in my service centre as she alluded to. Some of the people she met there, were genuine voters who had come in to chat and share what were happening in the places where they reside. I only have a staff of 4 in my office. 3 Malay and one Indian. This is not by default but by design. I want my staff to be sensitive to the needs of the electorates of Batu especially the plight of the Indians (since most of them are from the lowest income groups) there. This team have been with me since the day I lost the Batu Election. But Jed was right in that my service centre is definitely opened from 12pm to 7pm daily and upon request on weekends too. And Thank You Jed for interviewing me and giving me a chance to explain what we have been upto in the last 2 years … (Incidentally, the link to my blog which she provided at the end of the interview is an error. Instead of limpsipin.com (I hope the error was not intentional to make me a 'limp') it should read limsipin.com)
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MIC Deputy President – G. Palanivel
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The very Anti-Thesis of 1Malaysia … if there's such a thing, we are beginning to wonder!