Subra accepts defeat, says will go back to medicine

SEGAMAT: MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, who lost the Segamat parliamentary seat after holding it for three terms to PKR's Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu, said he may go.

Businessman Santhara, who won by a majority of 5,476 votes, is the founder of the Masterskill Education Group and the PKR national integration bureau chairman.

In the previous election, he managed to gain 999 votes as an Independent candidate for the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, coming in last in a field of four.

There are 55,350 voters in the Segamat seat with Malays (46.1% of voters), Chinese (42.7%) and Indians (10%).

In the previous election, Dr Subramaniam won by a majority of 1,217 votes against PKR's Chua Jui Meng.

As soon as the election results were announced, Dr Subramaniam entered the counting centre in Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim and shook hands with Pakatan Harapan members and congratulated them, although he looked disheartened by the defeat.

He said voters did not cast votes based on his performance in the constituency, adding that the votes were cast mainly for political parties.

“If they cast votes based on performance (in Segamat), then rightfully they would have voted for me, but they saw things beyond performance,” Subramaniam said.

He pointed out that the old model of Barisan Nasional needs to be reinvented for the future, saying that “the Malay support has been taken for granted.”

Asked about his next move or future plans, Subramaniam said he would return to his medical practice either full or part time.

“Losing in politics is not the end of life, when something ends, there will always be a beginning.

“I was already thinking that this would be my last term, I didn't want to take politics into my 70s.

“So, after the results, it shows that my political career has ended earlier,” Subramaniam said.

In the state seats within Segamat, PKR's Tan Chen Choon retained his Jemantah seat for a second term with a 7,001 majority against Barisan's Chiam Yok Meng.

In the Buloh Kasap seat, Umno's Zahari Sarip won by a majority of 877 votes against PKR's Norsamsu Mohd Yusof.