PETALING JAYA, June 21 – MIC vice president SK Devamany has been picked as the Perak state legislative assembly speaker, party sources revealed today.
Party insiders claim that Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir issued the appointment letter to the former Cameron Highlands member of parliament and ex-deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, yesterday The appointment brings an end to the stalemate between the MIC and the state Barisan Nasional leadership over the appointment.
MIC chief G Palanivel in a strongly-worded statement last week said that the party will not take up any position in the state government if a MIC candidate is not given the Speaker’s post. The impasse, sources reveal, began after Palanivel nominated a leader, which was disagreed by the state leadership, to take-up the Speaker’s post.
The state BN led by Zambry refused to give in which resulted in the MIC to name another candidate for the position. The post was previously held by R Ganeson, the former Sungkai state assemblyman. MIC lost all seats its contested in Perak expect for the Tapah parliamentary constituency.
The Tapah seat was won by another party vice president M Saravanan, who is now Youth and Sports deputy minister. Devamany on the other hand was pushed to contest the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in the just concluded 13th general election. He won the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat at the 2008 general election but lost in Sungai Siput this time around.
Apart from Sungai Siput, MIC also lost the Buntong, Hutan Melintang and Jelapang state seats allocated to the party result of the Barisan Nasional seat sharing system. Despite, its heavy loss in the ‘silver’ state, Zambry had promised to appoint two senators, a special advisor to the Menteri Besar and a special officer post to looking into the plight of the Indian community in the state.
Meanwhile, MIC today announced the appointment of Ganesan as the Perak MIC liaison committee chief and M Karuppanan as Penang state head with immediate effect. Palanivel, in a statement, hoped Ganesan and Karuppanan, both lawyers by training, would be able to lead and strengthen the party in the two states.
“They should call for regular monthly meetings to keep in touch with the grassroots and also visit the party divisions regularly,” he said. Ganesan was formerly Perak MIC liaison committee deputy chairman while Karuppanan is the current chairman of the party’s Bukit Bendera division.
– FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
