Samy Vellu Copy-Cat

This letter was sent by Jason L to Malaysiakini ..........

I refer to the report Samy pens poem for PM on Works Minister S Samy Vellu allegedly composing an original poem for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on occasion of the latter’s wedding.

I would like to bring your readers’ attention to the fact that Samy Vellu has plagiarised this poem. Do you know where he plagiarised the poem from? I reproduce below the original poems from which Samy Vellu had employed a ‘cut and paste’ operation.

From This Day Forward

Author Unknown

From this day forward,

You shall not walk alone.

My heart will be your shelter,

And my arms will be your home

Blessing For A Marriage

by James Dillet Freeman

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

Now, below is Samy’s alleged poem:

‘From this day forward

You shall not walk alone.

Her heart will be your shelter,

And her arms will be your home.

A mountain needs a valley to be complete;

the valley does not makethe mountain less, but more;

and the valley is more a valley because

it has a mountain towering over it’

Really, how cheap can one get?