11. Kula challenges Samy

by Humayun Kabir, theSun

 

Ipoh Barat DAP MP M. Kulasegaran has challenged MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to a public debate on the thorny issue of Maika Holdings shares.

He said Samy Vellu is free to fix the time, date and place for the debate which will settle "once and for all" the 25-year-old issue.

Kulasegaran, who said he is one of 66,400 shareholders of Maika, said many shareholders had approached him to debate the issue live with Samy Vellu.

If Samy Vellu responds to this challenge, it will be the third such public debate, the other two being between Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Information Minister Datuk Ahmad  Shabery Cheek on the fuel price hike and that between Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon on the land scams in Penang.

Kulasegaran said in his website that Maika Holdings was touted as an economic vehicle and a miracle to lift the Indian poor from the shackles of poverty and Maika was launched with much hype and hope, causing many plantation workers to invest in the company.

"The new dawn of a golden opportunity that was promised to the Indian poor never arrived.

Instead, each passing year only witnessed dashed hopes and broken promises and many of the investors had since passed away, their spirits broken by such false hopes.”

Kulasegaran said the Anti-corruption Agency had been alerted to this issue but nothing has come out of it.

"This outstanding issue will not be solved unless Samy Vellu takes up the live open debate challenge and the entire Indian community awaits his response."