Subra seeks to retire from politics and return to medicine

SEGAMAT: Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam hopes to retire from active politics and return to fulltime or part-time medical service.

The MIC president, who was a dermatologist before joining politics, said his failure in retaining his parliamentary seat here did not mean the end of life.

“When something ends, there will always be a beginning. I was already thinking that this would be my last term, as I don’t want to be involved in politics in my 70s.

“The election results show that politics has ended earlier for me,” said the 65-year-old when met here late on Wednesday.

Dr Subramaniam was seeking a fourth term for Segamat under Barisan Nasional in a three-cornered fight against Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu of PKR and PAS’ Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil.

Businessman Dr Santhara, founder of the Masterskill Education Group and PKR national integration bureau chairman, beat the incumbent with a 5,476-vote majority.

In GE13, Dr Santhara gained 999 votes as an Independent for the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, coming out last in a field of four.

In GE13, Dr Subramaniam won by a majority of 1,217 votes against PKR’s Datuk Chua Jui Meng.

On polling day, as soon as the election results were announced, Dr Subramaniam entered the counting centre at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim and congratulated the winning party members.

He said people had voted mainly based on political lines instead of the constituency’s progress.

He noted that the old model of Barisan had to be reinvented for the future, adding that “the Malay support has been taken for granted”.

In GE14, MIC won two parliamentary seats, Tapah (Perak) and Cameron Highlands (Pahang), and three state seats, Tenggaroh and Kahang in Johor, and Jeram Padang in Negri Sembilan.