Defeat a bitter pill for Samy to swallow

IPOH, Sat:

It was the most unexpected defeat for one who had defended his seat successfully since 1974. The sudden loss of his traditional parliamentary constituency of Sungai Siput tonight came as a devastating shock to Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu so much so that the MIC supremo, upon learning of defeat, made a quick exit from the Dewan Konvensyen Sungai Siput where he was waiting with his close aides for the impending result.

On his way out, he could only muster "goodbye" to reporters and supporters present at the convention hall. The MIC stalwart lost to Dr D. Jeyakumar; his nemesis since 1999, and a man who the MIC strongman had trounced in the last general election when he won with a majority of 10,349 votes.

However, Jeyakumar, a former chest physician who stood on PKR ticket, garnered 16,874 votes to Samy Vellu's 14,408. It was not only Samy Vellu who had to swallow the bitter pill of defeat, his PPP counterpart Datuk M. Kayveas too lost the Taiping parliamentary seat which he was contesting for the first time.

The loss was expected, given the dissatisfaction among the Chinese and Indian voters on the decision to retain Kayveas for the seat, traditionally held by Gerakan. Kayveas lost to DAP's Nga Kor Ming, a young lawyer and the opposition party's socialist youth chief, by more than 4,000 votes.