sure i will have no chance lar.........i worst then samy ar wahahahah.......................good one lar........eh but i dun simply stab ppls back leh.......how can be worst than him leh...............wahahahah........................
what do u mean he stab ppl back???
A coffee table book titled Samy Vellu As We Know Him is providing a rare insight into the 71-year-old celebrated leader of the Indian community.
MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is well known in the country and in the world for his qualities as a political leader, fiery orator and persistence.
He is also known as one who is always game for a fight on any issue. But there is more to the man, as revealed in the book,
Samy Vellu – As We Know Him.
In it, he is described as a well-dressed politician, a good chef, dramatist and a leader who is known to help grassroots party members. Friends have also described his early years as an estate worker and an office boy in an architectural firm, and his foray into Shakespeare in a Tamil version of
Hamlet.
Compiled by Chitra Vasu, the book is not an autobiography but an account of Samy Vellu as told by people who know him well. Some are accounts of first meetings with him while others relate his rise from a poverty-stricken childhood to where he is now.
Officially launched last week, the 300-page book (in English and Tamil) also features more than 300 photographs of Samy Vellu, who is Works Minister, culled mostly from private collections of contributors.
More than 5,000 people including former Tamil Nadu minister R.M. Veerappan, film director Baharatiraja and Indian Progressive Front president Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan attended the launch of the book's Tamil version at PWTC. The book could be considered as a rare documentation of a man who, despite what his detractors say, has held the Malaysian Indian community spellbound through his deeds over the last three decades, Chitra said.
“I got this idea (on compiling the book) on his 70th birthday on March 8 last year when MIC vice-president Tan Sri K.S. Nijhar started telling me about Datuk Seri. This was when I asked him about his first meeting with the MIC president,” she said.
“I thought it was interesting and wondered how it would be to compile similar thoughts of others of their meeting with Samy Vellu. I sat on the idea for some time and gathered strength to ask him, myself, if he would be all right with the idea.”
Denying claims that the book was launched to shore up Samy Vellu's image following the on-going tiff between him and PPP president Datuk M. Kayveas, MIC information chief Datuk M. Saravanan said: “The contributions of Samy Vellu are numerous and he is an icon of the Indian community. He can’t be compared to any other Indian leader.”
Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Rais Yatim who was guest of honour at the launch of the English version of the book last week said Samy Vellu has leadership qualities similar to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Both Samy Vellu and Dr Mahathir don't believe in procrastination. They believe that the work of today should have been done yesterday,” he said in his tribute to Samy Vellu, whom he described as the hardest working politician in the Cabinet.
Samy Vellu, who has been president of MIC since 1979 and was appointed to the Cabinet in the same year, is also described as a far-sighted politician. He joined MIC in 1959 when he was 23 years old.
In response to the accolades accorded to him, Samy Vellu said it was heart-warming and mind numbing to be praised for simply doing what he thought had to be done. “My motto in life is simple: when you learn, teach; when you get, give,” he said.
“I think many of you know me better than even myself. I work hard, but just as Martin Luther King once said, the outcome is at the people's hands more than mine. The people come first to me. I share their grievances and their dreams.”
Samy Vellu said he is where he is today because of the unwavering “support and blessings of the Indian community, the majority of whom are MIC members”.
“They are my life line. Without them, I am simply nobody. Faith gave me the courage to face uncertainties. Faith gave my tired body new strength every day to march on and complete what I set out to do,” he said.
“There is only one mission in my life, my whole life, and that is to uplift the socio-economic position of the Indian community. Our agenda is not completed. Our struggle is not over yet.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his foreword said the book clearly and collectively depicts a man whose life has been dedicated to serving the nation and the people.
“From the diverse set of personal perspective, we are able to intimately relate to the human side of the struggles, triumphs and achievements of one of the nation's longest-serving leaders,” he noted.
“This book is indeed a testament in the way Samy Vellu has touched the lives of many Malaysians.”
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the book would take the reader back as far back as 50 years.
“The reader is entertained with accounts that are amazing and, at times, amusing. One cannot escape identifying similarities as well as differences between the accounts in the book and those that have been one's own experience,” he said.
One of the accounts is by Ismail Ayub, who grew up with Samy Vellu in the mining area of Batu Arang, Selangor.
“He (Samy Vellu) lived in division OC8 while my family stayed in the Bukit Nanas section but we were like brothers and able to converse in Mandarin, Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia,” the 71-year-old said.
When he was 12, Samy Vellu worked as an office boy at Malayan Collieries Ltd, Ismail related. Samy Vellu would wait patiently outside his employer's office for all the documents to be signed.
Former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik said Samy Vellu takes a serious interest in the problems faced by the Indian community, especially the poor Indians.
“During my time, I had several of my colleagues in the Cabinet to divest the responsibilities but he did not enjoy such a privilege,” he said, adding that Samy Vellu was a caring and humorous person. Volume of honour: Samy Vellu with Rais during the launch of the English version of the book last week. Left: The young Samy Vellu ready to face life’s challenges. The actor: Samy Vellu played the role of the king in the Pure Life Society’s Tamil version of
Hamlet.Much-loved son: With his mother Anggamah who died in 1950.
Bump: want summore ah?
Bump: want summore ah?
