Palanivel’s supporters gather to hand protest note to Najib at MIC polls

Supporters of Datuk Seri G. Palanivel wants to pass Datuk Seri Najib Razak a protest note over the appointment of a new MIC president. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, November 6, 2015.

Nearly 100 supporters of former MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel gathered outside the entrance to Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) today to hand a protest note to the prime minister over the appointment of Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam as their new president.

The MIC polls and annual general assembly is taking place there and Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, is scheduled to officiate the gathering.

The members however were left disappointed when Najib entered the venue via another entrance.

The group had also brought banners with the words "Dr Subramaniam jangan pecah belahkan MIC" (Dr Subramaniam do not split MIC), "Kami mahu pemilihan yang adil" (We want a fair election), "Perdana menteri tolong satukan parti" (Prime minister please unite the party) and "Dr Subramaniam tidak layak untuk memimpin MIC" (Dr Subramaniam is not qualified to lead MIC).

MIC information chief L. Sivasubramaniam, who is leading the group, told The Malaysian Insider that although members were still loyal to BN, he was worried that a "new tsunami" would take place during the 14th general election if the party's internal problems were not resolved.

"We will continue with our struggles. We will not give up.

"Today, we gathered here to hand over our memorandum. More than 2,500 MIC branch chiefs and 300,000 members are out of MIC because of Dr Subramaniam's leadership, which is not in line with the party's. He was made president via the back door."

He said Najib should not ignore them as they were also members of BN and Malaysians.

"We love the prime minister, he is our father, the head of BN. I am a MIC and BN member for 30 years and now, why did the prime minister enter through the back entrance? We want to hand over our memorandum voicing out our concerns over the polls.

"The election has a lot of problem and Dr Subramaniam had said he will accept all of us, we are still MIC members, we did not leave the party. Dr Subramaniam is stupid. I am still a member, I did not leave the party."

Police personnel, including the Federal Reserve Unit and police trucks were stationed at the entrance of MAEPS to monitor the situation.

Sivasubramaniam also urged Najib to help resolve the problems in the party.

"I want to tell the prime minister, please interfere, resolve the problem, if not at the next election, there will be a tsunami. We do not want the prime minister to be a victim (of that).

"Please, accept our memorandum."

- TMI