Saravanan Murugan

{{short description|Malaysian politician}}

{{COI|date=June 2020}}

{{EngvarB|date=December 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Indian name|Saravanan|Murugan|note=on}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri

| name = Saravanan Murugan

| native_name = {{nobold|முருகன் சரவணன்}}

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=MYS|size=100%|SMW|PMW|DMSM|AMN|MP}}

| image = YB Datuk Seri M.Saravanan, Minister of Human Resources (cropped).jpg

| caption = Saravanan in 2020

| birth_name = Saravanan s/o Murugan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|02|04|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sentul, Kuala Lumpur (then located in Selangor, now Federal Territory), Malaysia

| residence =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| office = Minister of Human Resources

| primeminister = Ismail Sabri Yaakob

| deputy = Awang Hashim

| constituency = Tapah

| term_start = 30 August 2021

| term_end = 24 November 2022

| monarch = Abdullah

| successor = Sivakumar Varatharaju

| predecessor = Himself

| primeminister1 = Muhyiddin Yassin

| deputy1 = Awang Hashim

| constituency1 = Tapah

| term_start1 = 10 March 2020

| term_end1 = 16 August 2021

| monarch1 = Abdullah

| successor1 = Himself

| predecessor1 = M. Kulasegaran

| office2 = Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports

| primeminister2 = Najib Razak

| constituency2 = Tapah

| term_start2 = 16 May 2013

| term_end2 = 9 May 2018

| minister2 = Khairy Jamaluddin

| monarch2 = Abdul Halim
{{small|(2013–2016)}}
Muhammad V
{{small|(2016–2018)}}

| successor2 = Steven Sim Chee Keong

| predecessor2 = Razali Ibrahim
Gan Ping Sieu

| office3 = Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing

| primeminister3 = Najib Razak

| term_end3 = 15 May 2013

| term_start3 = 9 April 2009

| constituency3 = Tapah

| minister3 = Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin

| successor3 = Loga Bala Mohan Jaganathan {{small|(Federal Territories)}}
Halimah Mohamed Sadique {{small|(Urban Wellbeing)}}

| predecessor3 = Himself {{small|(Federal Territories)}}

| monarch3 = Mizan Zainal Abidin
{{small|(2009–2011)}}
Abdul Halim
{{small|(2011–2013)}}

| office4 = Deputy Minister of Federal Territories

| primeminister4 = Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
{{small|(2008–2009)}}
Najib Razak
{{small|(2009)}}

| term_end4 = 9 April 2009

| term_start4 = 19 March 2008

| constituency4 = Tapah

| minister4 = Zulhasnan Rafique

| successor4 = Himself
{{small|(Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing)}}

| predecessor4 = Abu Seman Yusop

| monarch4 = Mizan Zainal Abidin

| constituency_MP5 =

| parliament5 =

| term_start5 = 21 October 2018

| term_end5 =

| majority5 =

| predecessor5 = Devamany Krishnasamy

| successor5 =

| office8 = Faction represented in Dewan Rakyat

| subterm8 = 2008–

| suboffice8 = Barisan Nasional

| party = Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)

| otherparty = Barisan Nasional (BN)

| occupation = Politician

| relations =

| spouse = Kavitha Vivekanandan{{cite news|url=http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=490224|title=Court Allows Saravanan To Strike Out Former Business Partner's Application|date=13 April 2010|agency=Bernama|access-date=16 June 2010|archive-date=29 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629124439/http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=490224|url-status=live}}

| children = 3

| website = {{URL|msaravanan68.blogspot.com}}

| footnotes =

| native_name_lang = Tamil

| constituency_MP6 = Tapah

| predecessor6 = Veerasingam Suppiah
(BN–MIC)

| term_start6 = 8 March 2008

| majority6 = 3,020 (2008)
7,927 (2013)
614 (2018)
5,064 (2022)

| office5 = Deputy President of the
Malaysian Indian Congress

| president5 = Vigneswaran Sanasee

| office7 = Senator
{{small|Appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong}}

| parliament6 = Malaysian

| term_start7 = 6 December 2000

| term_end7 = 5 December 2003

| monarch7 = Salahuddin
{{small|(2000–2001)}}
Syed Sirajuddin
{{small|(2001–2003)}}

| primeminister7 = Mahathir Mohamad
{{small|(2000–2003)}}
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
{{small|(2003)}}

| office9 = Faction represented in Dewan Negara

| suboffice9 = Barisan Nasional

| subterm9 = 2000–2003

}}

Saravanan s/o Murugan ({{langx|ta|முருகன் சரவணன்|Murukaṉ Caravaṇaṉ}}; born 4 February 1968) commonly referred to as M. Saravanan ({{langx|ta|மு. சரவணன்|Mu. Caravaṇaṉ}}) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tapah since March 2008. He served as the Minister of Human Resources for the second term in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 to the collapse of the BN administration in November 2022 and the first term in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin from March 2020 to the collapse of the PN administration in August 2021, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports from May 2013 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018, Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing from April 2009 to May 2013 and Deputy Minister of Federal Territories from March 2008 to April 2009. He is a member and Deputy President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the BN coalition. From March 2020 to November 2022, he was the sole minister of the Indian ethnicity and MIC and one of the only two MIC candidates to be elected in the 2018 general election as well as the sole MIC candidate elected in the 2022 general election.{{cite web|url=http://www.parlimen.gov.my/index.php?modload=ahlidewan&uweb=dr&action=details&id=49|title=M. Saravanan, Y.B. Datuk|publisher=Parliament of Malaysia|language=ms|access-date=16 June 2010|archive-date=29 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129180230/http://www.parlimen.gov.my/index.php?modload=ahlidewan&uweb=dr&action=details&id=49|url-status=live}}

Saravanan began his political career in 1994 as a secretary in MIC for the district of Titiwangsa. Prior to his active participation in Malaysian politics, Saravanan worked several jobs as an office clerk, a member of the Royal Malaysian Police force (PDRM), and a marketing executive. He possesses a bachelor's degree in business administration from Hammersmith & West London College in England. In 2018, he pursued his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of the West of Scotland and successfully completed in the year 2022.

Saravanan was a Senator prior to his election to the Dewan Rakyat (the lower house of Malaysia's Parliament). In the 2008 General Election, he contested for the seat of Tapah and won, defeating a candidate from the People's Justice Party (PKR). However, the MIC suffered widespread losses at the election, which left Saravanan as one of only three MIC members in the Dewan Rakyat. Despite his party's reduced presence in Parliament and the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, Saravanan was appointed as a Deputy Minister from 2008 until 2013.

Within the MIC, Saravanan is seen as an ally of its then-president Samy Vellu, being elected as a Vice President of the MIC on Vellu's ticket{{Cite news

| title = Vote for the President's Men, Says Samy Vellu

| newspaper = Bernama

| date = 10 September 2009

| url = http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newspolitic.php?id=439513

| access-date = 6 January 2010

| archive-date = 16 October 2009

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091016180711/http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newspolitic.php?id=439513

| url-status = live

}} and defending Vellu from opposition attacks.{{Cite news

| last = Retna

| first = S.

| title = Saravanan Slams Karpal, Defends Samy Vellu

| newspaper = Bernama

| date = 27 December 2008

| url = http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=380577

| access-date = 6 January 2010

| archive-date = 4 June 2011

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604035602/http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=380577

| url-status = live

}} However he lost in the party re-election close fight for the position of Deputy President in 2015 to another MIC Vice President, S. K. Devamany.{{Cite news

| title = Saravanan loses race for MIC No 2

| newspaper = Malaysiakini

| date = 6 November 2015

| url = https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/318657

| access-date = 28 May 2016

| archive-date = 5 February 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160205173603/http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/318657

| url-status = live

}}{{Cite news

| last = KHOO

| first = SIMON

| title = Devamany is new MIC deputy president

| newspaper = The Star (Malaysia)

| date = 6 November 2015

| url = http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/11/06/mic-polls-devamany-dep-pres/

| access-date = 28 May 2016

| archive-date = 8 November 2015

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151108213004/http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/11/06/MIC-polls-devamany-dep-pres/

| url-status = live

}}{{Cite news

| title = Devamany beats Saravanan in race for MIC deputy president

| newspaper = The Malay Mail

| date = 6 November 2015

| url = http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/devamany-beats-saravanan-in-race-for-mic-deputy-president

| access-date = 28 May 2016

| archive-date = 19 September 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160919194928/http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/devamany-beats-saravanan-in-race-for-mic-deputy-president

| url-status = live

}}