Former MIC leaders weigh in on party crisis

Many are aghast at the internal crisis plaguing the party and blame too many egos of getting in the way of party interests.

By S. Kisho Kumari

KUALA LUMPUR: Just a few days back, this writer contacted the MIC’s head of media A Puvaa for a copy of the party’s constitution.

He immediately apologised saying that he may not be able to get one as he had been refused entry into the MIC headquarters, here.

It was ironical that even those on the party’s payroll, let alone key leaders, were barred from entering the building to carry out their duties, for reasons best known to the people “in charge of” Menara Manickavasagam at Jalan Rahmat, here, which houses the MIC headquarters.

Party veterans, meanwhile, are watching all these developments closely and are clearly aghast at the state their beloved 68-year-old party is in now.

They want the leaders of the various factions to meet and settle their differences, though, they concede that this might be a gargantuan task considering that several people’s egos were involved as well.

Too many egos involved

When his comments were sought, former MIC secretary-general and deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker D P Vijandran burst out saying, “I’m mortified!”

He said he could not believe how fragmented the party had become in the space of just two months.

“We had worked so hard to build this party and it’s going (to) pieces now.

“I am hopeful that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister will knock some sense into the MIC leaders involved and get them to straighten out the party affairs,” he told Bernama.

But Vijandran reckoned that it might not be easy to mediate between the warring factions and put the crisis to an end because “a lot of egoism is involved here… but I hope they will all put the interests of the party and the Barisan Nasional (BN) ahead of their egos”.

The fact that an internal crisis was brewing in the MIC became apparent when the Registrar of Societies (ROS) issued a directive to the party dated December 5 last year to hold fresh elections within 90 days for its three vice-presidential and 23 Central Working Committee (CWC) posts.

The re-election order was issued following irregularities in the elections held during the party’s general assembly in Melaka on November 30, 2013.

Instead of taking collective action to meet the RoS directive, there was hardly any interaction between party leader G Palanivel and his deputy S Subramaniam, and by then it was obvious that the two were not seeing eye to eye where party matters were concerned.

In early January, in what was seen as a move to get rid of Subramaniam’s faction out of the party line-up, Palanivel announced that G Kumar Aaman would replace A Prakash Rao as party secretary-general.

The president also appointed Ramalingam Krishnamoorthy as the new strategic director, replacing Vell Paari.

However, on January 29, Palanivel issued a statement saying that he and his deputy would stand-down to make way for a moratorium to “give us a period of non-crisis to resolve the issues that have come up”.

Former Wanita MIC leader and social activist Devaki Krishnan said there was an urgent need to save the party from remaining in the doldrums.

Offering her services to the MIC leaders to help them patch up their differences, she said Palanivel, for a start, should start listening to what others have to say.

“We respect Palanivel as a leader but he is not communicating with his deputy and vice-presidents, and I believe this non-communication is the root cause of all the mess the party is in now,” she told Bernama.

She said she had been with the MIC for over 60 years and has seen many party elections taking place, “but not once did we go through a crisis like this”.

Unqualified people in the CWC

Former MIC secretary-general G Vadiveloo believed that only the top BN leadership could resolve the crisis festering in the party.

“Only after the BN leaders have intervened and resolved the crisis should the party hold the re-elections as directed by the ROS,” he said.

Vadiveloo claimed that problems started cropping up in the party after certain “unqualified” people were elected into the CWC in 2013, thus leading to the elections being declared invalid by the RoS.

He also hit out at Kumar Aaman for not allowing certain party leaders and members from entering the party headquarters, saying that it had never been the party’s policy to refuse entry to people associated with the MIC.

(On Jan 28, MIC vice-president M Saravanan, Wanita chief M. Mohana and other leaders were stopped by some 20 “security guards” from going into the party headquarters. Saravanan claimed that the guards were hired by Kumar Aaman.)

Just hold elections and move on

Vijandran, meanwhile, urged the MIC to adhere to the RoS order to hold fresh elections, and move on.

“The party can’t go against the ruling from a government department. Just follow the order and move on. It’s as simple as that.”

He added that the party leaders should give due importance to the party’s constitution as well as the relevant laws to avoid disputes from arising.

- BERNAMA