PETER SUGUMARAN: I regret demeaning Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

IT’S finally out in the open.

After much speculation over the identity of the MIC member who had called for the portrait of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be garlanded with slippers, it is now revealed that the person was none other than MIC’s Paya Besar division deputy chairman Peter Sugumaran.

And after his initial bluster, all he wants now is to say sorry to the former prime minister.

“What I want to say is, Dr Mahathir, I am sorry for demeaning you,” he told Malay Mail in a telephone interview yesterday.

Sugumaran admitted that the decision was a bad call on his part and expressed remorse over the incident. “In the heat of the moment, I didn’t know what I was talking about,” he said.

“The words just came out of my mouth. I didn’t plan it when I went onstage to say my piece,” said the retired Tenaga Nasional Berhad employee.

Recalling the incident during the party’s presidential debate on Sunday, Sugumaran said that halfway through his speech, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu got up and stopped him in his tracks, telling him not to criticise Dr Mahathir.

However, when asked to clarify allegations by several party members that he had allegedly, the night before his speech, declared his intention to criticise Dr Mahathir when he took to the stage, Sugumaran replied in the affirmative.

“It’s true. I did tell several delegates that I wished to speak my mind on outside interference but I didn’t mean to put down the great leader,” he said.

The three-term division deputy chief said he was prepared to face any action deemed fit by the party disciplinary committee over his action and reiterated his regret over the incident.

“Upon realising my mistake, I apologised to the president. I also conveyed the same message to my State chairman Datuk Davendran Murthy,” said Sugumaran.

When contacted, Davendran, the Sabai State assemblyman, said he was surprised that Sugumaran could suggest such a thing (about Dr Mahathir).

“I’ve known him a long time. He’s a well-mannered person and not usually the kind of man to do such a thing.”

Earlier yesterday, Samy Vellu announced Sugumaran’s suspension with immediate effect for suggesting that a garland of slippers be placed on Dr Mahathir’s photograph at PWTC, the venue of the MIC general assembly last weekend.

He said the party would wait for the recommendations of the disciplinary committee to the Central Working Committee (CWC) before deciding on any further action.

The disciplinary committee has to issue a show-cause letter asking the delegate to provide an explanation. The party’s constitution provides for the disciplinary committee to warn, suspend or sack a member, but its decision has to be endorsed by the CWC.

“I hope with this decision, the issue would be put to rest,” Samy Vellu said.

He said that he had also discussed the issue with other senior leaders in the party and they agreed with the suspension.

MIC vice-president Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said he agreed with the suspension.

“We do not condone the delegate’s action as it is against Indian culture and (standards of) civility,” he said in a statement.

Dr Subramaniam said other delegates had also condemned the delegate’s remarks during the debate. The “garland of slippers” suggestion came after some MIC members got upset with Dr Mahathir, who was quoted by the Makkal Osai Tamil daily as saying that Samy Vellu had done nothing for the Indian community and that he had “stayed too long”.

Samy Vellu first criticised the former premier for interfering in internal party matters, but said he opposed the garland suggestion and would take disciplinary action against the delegate.

Issue puts Samy Vellu in a tight spot

Dr Mahathir had suggested the veteran leader make way for younger leaders and endorsed defeated deputy presidential candidate Datuk S. Subramaniam as the successor.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also suggested in his address at the assembly that political leaders should not just be satisfied with being popular within their parties, but should be more concerned with how the public views them.

In Samy Vellu’s speech, he said that the Indian community was upset with the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration for not doing enough for them.

Samy Vellu and candidates aligned to him swept the board in a demonstration of his iron-grip on the MIC. But the veteran leader is finding it hard to contain the anti-MIC rhetoric from Umno that followed the “garland of slippers” incident.

He took action against Peter Sugumaran, the delegate from Paya Besar division in Pahang, yesterday but his supporters have moved to the frontline to ward off attacks against him.

Said political analyst Dr Ravindran Savrimuthu: “Samy Vellu may have sacked the delegate in the hope that the matter would be put to rest.

“But he would be fully aware that only a personal apology to Dr Mahathir would bring an end to the issue.”

Ravindran said Samy Vellu should abandon his “tough guy” stance in this case in the larger interest of the BN.
Umno leaders and a variety of BN leaders have described the “garland of slippers” suggestion as rude, excessive and extreme.

They said BN members must show that they respected others, respected leaders and were individuals who valued culture and tradition and upheld decorum in the coalition.

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