Tun Samy Vellu s/o Sangalimuthu ( ta, சாமிவேலு சங்கிலிமுத்து, Cāmivēlu Caṅkilimuttu; 8 March 1936 – 15 September 2022) was a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Works from June 1983 to June 1989 and again from May 1995 to March 2008, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts from June 1989 to May 1995, Minister of Works and Public Amenities from September 1979 to June 1983 and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for

Sungai Siput Sungai Siput (U) ( Jawi: سوڠاي سيڤوت; Tamil: சுங்கை சீப்புட்) (English: Snail River) is a town and mukim in Kuala Kangsar District, Perak, Malaysia, covering 155.141 hectares, 61.5% of the total area of Ku ...

from September 1974 to March 2008. He was a member and served as 7th President of the

Malaysian Indian Congress The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC; ta, மலேசிய இந்திய காங்கிரஸ், Malēciya Intiya Kāṅkiras; formerly known as Malayan Indian Congress) is a Malaysian political party. It is one of the founding membe ...

(MIC), a component party of the ruling

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

(BN) coalition, from October 1979 to December 2010. He is the longest-serving MIC president by holding the position for 31 years and one of the longest-serving

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

ministers by being in the Cabinet for 29 years. In December 2010, he announced his retirement from politics, paving the way for then MIC Deputy President

G. Palanivel Datuk Seri Palanivel s/o K. Govindasamy ( ta, பழனிவேல் கோவிந்தசாமி, Paḻaṉivēl kōvintacāmi; born 1 March 1949), commonly known as G Palanivel is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Natu ...

to succeed him as the new party president.

Political career

Samy Vellu's political career began at the age of 23, in 1959, when he and Govindaraj joined the Batu Caves MIC branch. After five years, he was elected Selangor MIC committee member and the head of the party. He made headline news by climbing up the Indonesian embassy's flag pole, pulling down the flag and burning it. He was charged in court and fined RM2. He was called Hero Malaysia on the front pages. He was a

for

constituency for eight terms from September 1974 to March 2008. During this time, from 1978 to 1979 he was Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing. Then from 1979 to 1989 he was Minister of Works. He then served as Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts from 1989 to 1995. From 1995 to March 2008 he was the Minister of Works until he lost his parliamentary seat to Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) but contested on the ticket of the

People's Justice Party The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The p ...

(PKR) in the March 2008 general election. He was the second longest serving minister in the country during his time, after

Rafidah Aziz Rafidah binti Aziz ( Jawi: ; born 4 November 1943) is a Malaysian politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Selayang from 1978 to 1982 and Kuala Kangsar constituency from 1982 to 2013. Born in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Rafidah was Minis ...

. Samy Vellu was appointed Malaysia's Special Envoy of Infrastructure to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and

Southern Asia Southern Asia may refer to: * South Asia, a geopolitical macroregion of SAARC countries * Southern Asia, a geographical subregion in Asia spanning the Iranian Plateau and the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the phy ...

, with ministerial rank, since 1 January 2011. The appointment was terminated by the new

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...

(PH) government in 2018.

Personal life

Vellu was born in Kluang,

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime b ...

, and is of Indian descent. He was married to Indrani Samy Vellu and had one son. He was a chartered architect and a member of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) and of the Malaysian Institute of Architects.

Biography

''A Life. A Legend. A Legacy'' written by Bernice Narayanan reveals Samy Vellu's achievements and setbacks as well as "behind-the-scenes" events in his almost 50 years of active politics. The biography was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Election results

Note: ¹ & ² Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj amid contesting under the tickets of DAP in the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

election and PKR in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

elections, is a member of

PSM PSM, an acronym, may refer to: Organizations * Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia ( ms, Persatuan Sepaktakraw Malaysia; PSM), a national governing body in Malaysia. * Pakistan School Muscat, a Pakistani co-educational institute in Oman * Palest ...

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

* : **

Grand Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (SSM) – Tun (2017) * : ** MY-FED Darjah Mahkota Wilayah - Grand Knight - SUMW

Grand Knight of the Order of the Territorial Crown (SUMW) – Datuk Seri Utama (2013) * : ** MY-PAH Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang - Grand Knight - SSAP

Grand Knight of the

Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang The Most Illustrious Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang ( Malay: ''Darjah Kebesaran Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang Yang Amat Di Mulia'') is a knighthood order of the Sultanate of Pahang. History The order was founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah on 24 Oc ...

(SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2004) * : ** MY-PERA_Order_of_Cura_Si_Manja_Kini_(before_2001)

Commander of the Order of Cura Si Manja Kini (PCM) (1978) ** MY-PERA Order of the Perak State Crown (before 2001)

Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Perak State Crown (SPMP) – Dato' Seri (1989) * : ** Most Honourable Order of the Crown of Johor - ribbon bar

Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor (SPMJ) – Dato' (1980) * : ** MY-SAR Order of the Star of Sarawak - 2 ribbon PNBS -JBS-PBS-ABS-BBS

Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak (PNBS) – Dato Sri (2003) * : ** MY-SEL Order of the Crown of Selangor - Knight Commander - DPMS

Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor (DPMS) – Dato' (1979)

Notes

References

External links

Malaysian Indian Congress' Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vellu, Samy 1936 births 2022 deaths People from Kluang Malaysian architects Malaysian politicians of Tamil descent Malaysian politicians of Indian descent Presidents of Malaysian Indian Congress Members of the Dewan Rakyat Government ministers of Malaysia Grand Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor Knights Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak Knights Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor 21st-century Malaysian politicians Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman