KUALA LUMPUR – Former MIC president and federal minister Tun S. Samy Vellu spent the last hours of his life with his family engaged in light-hearted banter, revealed his son Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari today.
For Vell Paari, this is what the loving and fatherly figure had stood for. Despite working tirelessly for the people, especially the Indian community, the statesman had always taken care of his family.
Remembering the last few hours of his father’s life, Vell Paari said that his father, despite suffering from dementia, had engaged in playful teasing and light-hearted exchanges with family members, to their surprise.
“He even hugged and talked to my daughter, in which we were surprised that he recognised her,” Vell Paari said to reporters at his father’s wake in their family home in Jalan Ipoh here today.
“He even told me to massage his hands, and asked my cousin to massage his shoulders and they were happily talking. He even told my wife that ‘I like your bangles’.
“So he was quite in a jovial mood. He even talked about eating his favourite Chinese fried rice with white eggs, which the cook later made for him,” Vell Paari recalled.
Vell Paari said his father managed to have three spoons of the rice before eating his medicines and retiring to bed at around 10pm.
“So then he went to bed, but actually he got up at 2.45am to go to the toilet. And then he sat for a while till about 3.15 am or 3.20 am, and went back to bed and that was it.
“The helpers knocked on my door at about 6am or 6.30am. They said that Tun normally gets up at this time.”
Upon checking, Vell Paari called his brother who then checked and confirmed that their father had breathed his last.
Paying tribute, he said that despite being busy fighting for the community, Samy Vellu never neglected his duties to the family.
“Of course, seeing his family was difficult as he worked late into the day, yet woke up early in the day,” he said.
“There would be people outside the house to see him at 5am and yet he still found time to sort family matters.
“Whether it was on our education or personal matters, he was always there to make sure that we were well looked after.”
Vell Paari said even those in extended families always considered Samy a father figure, as he had taken up the responsibility to care for them.
"If not for him, I don’t think many would be where they are in terms of education or coming up in life,” he said.
Samy Vellu passed away peacefully today. He was 86 years old.
The former Sg Siput MP was works minister from 1979 to 1989 and from 1995 to 2008. He was also the energy, telecommunications and posts minister from 1989 to 1995.
Members of the public who wish to pay their last respects to the late Samy Vellu will have the opportunity to do so at his residence at No. 19, Lengkongan Vethavanam, Batu 3 1/2, Jalan Ipoh here.
His body will be taken to the DBKL Crematorium in Cheras from his home at 3pm tomorrow. – The Vibes, September 15, 2022
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