Adhere to ROS directive, BN sec-gen tells MIC

Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor says refusal to hold re-elections will only worsen the situation.

KUALA LUMPUR: The internal conflicts in MIC can be resolved if the party adhered to the Registrar of Societies’ (ROS) directive for the party to hold a fresh elections.

Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said MIC president G Palanivel’s refusal to hold a re-election would only worsen the situation.

“ROS has decided. So, MIC must hold a fresh election. They should adhere to the law because each political party has its own constitutional structure,” he said after chairing the Setiawangsa parliamentary constituency’s town hall dialogue organised by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and attended by over 500 residents here yesterday.

Yesterday, Palanivel said the party was waiting for the response from the home minister regarding its appeal over the contents of a letter dated December 5 from ROS to the party.

He said the appeal was lodged on January 14 upon legal advice of lawyers. In the letter, ROS ordered MIC to hold a fresh election for three vice-president posts and 23 Central Working Committee seats within 90 days after finding irregularities in the elections held during the 68th MIC annual general meeting on November 30, 2013.

Meanwhile, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) president M Kayveas said MIC should take a lesson from PPP’s internal conflicts which occurred between 1975 and 1993 and almost caused the party to be disbanded.

He said MIC should not make the same mistake and should resolve its internal conflicts immediately.

“At one time, PPP also faced internal conflicts. We held no elections, we fought a lot, always in court, and ended up having to stay outside BN from 1985 to 1994.

“At that time, (the then BN chairman) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad decided that we should solve our problems first before we can return to BN … if not, PPP must stay outside BN,” he said.

Kayveas said it took him almost 20 years to reunite and strengthen the party and make it what it was today after taking over from his predecessor in 1993.

As such, he said MIC should try to solve its problems before the situation worsened, besides being more cooperative with ROS.

- BERNAMA