Manikavasagam Sundram

Not to be confused with V. Manickavasagam.

In this Indian name, the name Sundram is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Manickavasagam. The abbreviation "s/o" or "d/o", if used, means "son of" or "daughter of" respectively.

Manikavasagam Sundram
மாணிக்கவாசகம் சுந்தரம்
Vice President of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 March 2024 Serving with Tan Chow Kang & Sarah Afiqah Zainol Ariff
President	Rohana Ariffin
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Kapar
In office 8 March 2008 – 5 May 2013
Preceded by	Komala Devi M Perumal (BN–MIC)
Succeeded by	Manivannan Gowindasamy (PR–PKR)
Majority	12,297 (2008)
Personal details
Born	Manikavasagam s/o Sundram (1965-06-27) 27 June 1965 (age 59) Selangor, Malaysia
Political party	Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) (1999–2000, since 2018) People's Justice Party (PKR) (2000–2018)
Other political affiliations	Barisan Alternatif (BA) (1999–2004) Pakatan Rakyat (PR) (2008–2015) Pakatan Harapan (PH) (2015–2018)
Occupation	Politician social activist

Manikavasagam s/o Sundram (Tamil: சு. மாணிக்கவாசகம்) (born 27 June 1965^[1]) is a Malaysian politician and social activist who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kapar from March 2008 to May 2013. He is a member of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), a component party of formerly Barisan Alternatif (BA) coalition and was a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and BA coalitions. He has served as the Vice President of PRM since March 2024.

Political career

Manikavasagam was elected to Parliament in the 2008 election, winning the seat of Kapar, previously held by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.^[2] Before his election, Manikavasagam was a prominent leader in the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF).^[3][4]

In December 2008, Manikavasagam announced he would leave PKR, citing disappointment with the party's leadership in Selangor.^[5] He eventually resigned from a leadership position within PKR, but not from the party itself.^[6]

In June 2009, an arrest warrant was issued for Manikavasagam after he allegedly refused to respond to a subpoena to testify at an inquest into the death of an actress.^[7] Manikavasagam applied to have the warrant set aside,^[8] and eventually testified at the inquest.^[9] Less than two weeks later, he was arrested over an unrelated public demonstration.^[10]

PKR did not renominate Manikavasagam to defend his Kapar parliamentary seat in the 2013 election. He contested the Selangor State Legislative Assembly seat of Bukit Melawati instead, losing to a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) candidate. In 2014 he was suspended from PKR for making allegations of "money politics" against the Selangor Chief Minister Khalid Ibrahim. After the lifting of his suspension, he challenged Khalid for the leadership for the Selangor division of PKR, and won, part of a series of events culminating in Khalid's downfall as Chief Minister later in the year.^[11][12][13]

On 7 April 2018, he announced that he has rejoined Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), a party which he first joined in 1999 before leaving for PKR in 2000. He also contested for the Kapar parliamentary seat and Meru state seat in the 2018 election under PRM ticket but lost both.^[14][15]

Election results

Selangor State Legislative Assembly^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2013	N10 Bukit Melawati		Manikavasagam Sundram (PKR)	6,490	45.99%		Jakiran Jacomah (UMNO)	7,296	51.70%	14,113	806	87.60%
2018	N42 Meru		Manikavasagam Sundram (PRM)	346	1.02%		Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar (AMANAH)	17,665	52.04%	34,448	9,608	88.12%
							Khairul Anuar Saimun (UMNO)	8,057	23.74%
							Noor Najhan Mohd Salleh (PAS)	7,804	22.99%
							Shee Chee Weng (IND)	72	0.21%

Parliament of Malaysia^[18]^[21]^[19]^[20]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2008	P109 Kapar		Manikavasagam Sundram (PKR)	48,196	57.31%		Komala Devi M Perumal (MIC)	35,899	42.69%	87,286	12,297	77.78%
2018			Manikavasagam Sundram (PRM)	525	0.49%		Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR)	47,731	44.99%	107,829	16,306	86.27%
							Mohana Muniandy Raman (MIC)	26,412	24.90%
							Abdul Rani Osman (PAS)	31,425	29.62%

References

1. "YB Manikavasagam". S. Manikavasagam: official blog. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
2. "Malaysia Decides 2008". The Star (Malaysia). Retrieved 17 January 2010.
3. "Malaysian police break up ethnic Indian rally". NBC News. 16 February 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
4. Zappei, Julia (16 February 2008). "Malaysian Police Break Up Indian Rally". Fox News. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
5. "Manikavasagam holds off on quit decision (updated)". The Star. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
6. Goh, Lisa (1 January 2009). "Kapar MP quits party post". The Star. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
7. "Arrest warrant issued against Kapar MP Manikavasagam". The Sun (Malaysia). 23 June 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
8. Goh, Lisa (24 June 2009). "Manikavasagam applies to set aside arrest order (Update)". The Star. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
9. Hamdan, Nurbaiti (9 July 2009). "Kapar MP: Vell Paari behaved as if he lost his wife at Sujata's funeral". The Star. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
10. Rajendra, Edward (17 July 2009). "Seven arrested outside MACC office, all later released (Update)". The Star. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
11. "Khalid defeated in PKR division polls". The Rakyat Post. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
12. Syed Jaymal Zahiid (15 April 2013). "PKR names three new faces for Selangor contest". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
13. Jamilah Kamarudin (16 May 2014). "Suspended PKR member begs party to allow him to take on Khalid in polls". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
14. "PRM announces candidates for 15 parliamentary, state seats in Selangor". Bernama. The Malay Mail. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
15. "Keluar PKR, bekas MP Kapar kembali ke PRM". The Star (in Malay). mStar. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
16. "2013 Malaysia General Election SELANGOR N10 Bukit Melawati". Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 5 June 2016. Results only available for the 2013 election.
17. "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum 13 Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri 2013". Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
18. "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 4 February 2017. Results only available from the 2004 election.
19. "SEMAKAN KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM KE - 14" (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 17 May 2018. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
20. "The Star Online GE14". The Star. Retrieved 24 May 2018. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
21. "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri". Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 19 June 2010. Percentage figures based on total turnout.