ROS-linked ‘conspiracy’ to topple Palanivel?

Leadership crises are not something new in the MIC. In fact, over the past 60 years or so, the party has moved from one crisis to another. But however, this time around, there is a new form of crisis in the party; a crisis relating to an alleged conspiracy between a government agency and certain persons in the MIC that allegedly ousted the former MIC leader, G Palanivel.

Some reliable sources have indicated that if this conspiracy is proven beyond doubt, then the new MIC president and current health minister has to resign or even face the prospect of spending some time in jail. For the beleaguered regime of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, this will be another major blow for the continued relevance of BN.

Two days ago, in Kuala Lumpur, one AK Ramalingam, an MIC leader and close confidante of Palanivel, revealed some sordid facts about what allegedly transpired between some leaders associated with Dr S Subramaniam and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) early this year.

Ramalingam claimed that Palanivel and his men were pushed out of office in the MIC allegedly due to conspiracy hatched between some persons who were close to Subramaniam and an officer of the ROS who was assigned to investigate election discrepancies in the MIC.

Ramalingam revealed details that letters/directives sent by ROS to the then-MIC president Palanivel were allegedly doctored by one of the current vice-presidents of MIC through his lawyer.

Apparently, on Feb 19, 2015, the lawyer sent an email to the vice-president and on the same day the latter forwarded the email to the ROS officer assigned to investigate election discrepancies in the MIC. The same email was later sent to a person at the MIC headquarters.

Apparently, according to Ramalingam, the ROS officer in turn ‘pasted’ the contents of the letter on ROS’ letterhead and sent the letter/directive to the MIC. The ROS directive instructed Palanivel to call new elections in the party as result of the serious discrepancies in the MIC elections of Nov 30, 2013, that took place in Malacca.

Ramalingam thinks that there is evidence to indicate that there was a conspiracy between some MIC leaders linked with Subramaniam and certain ROS officers to undermine and bring down the legitimate leadership of Palanivel.

In the press meeting, he said that he would give Subramaniam 24 hours to deny that he was involved in the conspiracy to topple Palanivel, failing which he would direct his men to lodge police reports throughout the country.

Ramalingam furthered argued that it was the directives from the ROS that sealed the fate of Palanivel as the president of the MIC. It was due to the directives from the ROS that Palanivel lost his case in the High Court, and upon appeal lost again both at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Rumours had surfaced

Even during the early part of this year, rumours of conspiracy had surfaced about the ‘secret deal’ between Subramaniam’s men and the ROS, but lack of evidence showed the theory to be a non-starter.

However, this time around, given the documents in possession of Ramalingam, there seems to be grounds for at least the police to investigate the matter. ROS as a responsible government agency under the Home Affairs Ministry should take immediate action to suspend the officer concerned before starting serious a serious investigation.

While Ramalingam has not directly accused Subramaniam of being a party to the conspiracy, surely the latter should come out either to confirm or deny his alleged involvement. If not the matter will spiral out of hand!

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P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai. -Mkini