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05 May 2010 | Socio-Political | Si Pin

 MIC Deputy President – G. Palanivel

Deputy President of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), G. Palanivel was sworned in as a Senator in the Dewan Rakyat on 3 May 2010. That’s good for the Indian community. Regardless of his performance for the last 4 terms in Hulu Selangor, I have heard (from my own sources) that he too has contributed his fair share of his duties in that area for the last 20 years.

Because voters appetide are always insatiable, they will always keep asking for more, and if you did not attend a function that they have organised (and there are many more excuses the electorates can give you), they will say you have not contributed/performed and therefore not fit to be fielded as a candidate. What is the criteria to judge whether an MP is performing or not performing?

What is a good MP and what is not a good MP?

At least now that he is a Senator (despite talk that this was a way to keep him silent and not make noise for not being chosen as the candidate for the Hulu Selangor By-Election), he should be able to use his new position to fight for the plight of the Indians in MIC and also his ’ex’-constituents in Hulu Selangor for the last 20 years.

But this article is not about G. Palanivel, it’s about Ezam, the ex-PKR Youth Chief who was also sworn in at the same time as Palanivel as a Senator. My question is, what has he done to deserve a seat in the Senate? By apologizing to the people of Hulu Selangor during the week-long campaign that he was wrong in criticising the Govt while he was in PKR? Is that it?

Is that how UMNO rewards its ‘rejects’?

If that is the case, then we have a serious problem here. The Senate becomes a national dumping ground for ‘political rejects’ and ‘political-frogs’.

What is a criteria to becoming a Senator? Is this a favour-granting post that is used to keep people happy or entice people to hop over and become a political-frog?

When has the ‘honourable’ institution of the Senate degraded to become like that? Instead of housing people who have contributed to the nation or are contributing to the nation, it has been used for other reasons (we call that patronage).

Previously known as the Upper House, carrying a higher stature than the Dewan Rakyat, Senators are now not being given the respect that they should, much like the grand-title of Dato and/or Tan Sri, the streets are full of it, its becoming like a commodity!