Samy Vellu ..::VS::.. HINDRAF 5

The Works Minister, who initially declined to comment on reports of requests to field one of the five Hindraf leaders detained under the Internal Security Act to contest against him in Sungai Siput, said: “I don’t want to talk about them.”

However, Samy Vellu added: “They can contest anywhere. After all, they are not enemies. They are Indians. If they have something to ask for, they’ll ask and if there’s something to do for the community, we’ll do.

“That is all. We don’t want to talk about them,” he said yesterday after giving out ang pow and hampers to residents of the Sungai Siput Old Folks Home here, about 40km from Ipoh.

Last week, 200 estate workers staged a peaceful demonstration at a temple in Ayer Tawar calling for one of the five Hindraf leaders to take on Samy Vellu in his Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency.

On Friday, the detainees’ legal counsel M. Kulasegaran said that there had been many requests for the five to stand as candidates.

M. Manoharan, 46, P. Uthayakumar, 46, V. Ganabatirau, 34, R. Kengadharan, 40, and K. Vasantha Kumar, 34, are under two-year detentions for their role in the protests in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25.

They would not be the first ISA detainees contesting the polls.

Chan Kok Kit and Chian Heng Khai contested on DAP tickets in 1978 while under detention.

Next week, Kulasegaran and two other legal counsels are expected to confer with the detainees on the matter.

Earlier, Samy Vellu said he was happy to note that people in the Sungai Siput constituency were united and problems faced by them were resolved quickly.

Meanwhile, Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Samad said everybody should be given a chance to participate in the coming general election, including the Hindraf leaders.

The Barisan Nasional, he said, has nothing to fear and would allow the voters to decide.

He said that the move to contest, including for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat, was not a direct challenge to Samy Vellu.