Kuala Lumpur, July 18 – Sources close to Datuk Seri G.Palanivel revealed that nationwide key leaders of his faction are set to meet today afternoon in a leading hotel in Putra Jaya, to strategise their next course action.
Sources also said, their main agenda is to decide whether to appeal to Federal Court against the Court of Appeal decision delivered on July 13 or to drop the appeal proceedings.
Tan Sri S.Balakrishnan, a key leader from Palanivel’s faction recently announced that they will appeal to Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s ruling. However, sources said there were strong opposition to his proposal as many feel going to Federal Court is not the right option. They are of the opinion that a political solution should be reached instead of still pursuing court battles.
On 13th July the Court of Appeal unanimously decided to reject Palanivel’s appeal with a slap of RM90,000 as costs. This is a clear indication that the Federal Court would also deliver similar judgment, a source close to Palanivel said. Furthermore, they will have to get Federal Court’s leave to proceed with the appeal.
Malaysian Civil Law Procedures dictate that leave of court must be obtained for all appeals to Federal Court. The criteria is that the case must be of public importance and there must be serious questions of law to be tried. If Palanivel’s lawyers are unable to satisfy the Federal Court on these grounds then they will fail to get leave for their appeal.
What other political options?
One division leader aligned to Palanivel said several key branches and leaders have already voiced their support for MIC Acting President Dr Subra by filing their nominations with MIC headquarters.
MIC Headquarters has also announced that the branches that failed to file their nominations on 10,11,12 July would be allowed to file again if they had proper and genuine reasons for failure to file nominations and that their appeals should reach MIC HQ by tomorrow (19th July). Many branches currently aligned to Palanivel are expected to appeal to MIC headquarters taking advantage of this opportunity.
Therefore, some sources close to Palanivel are of the opinion that they are losing much ground in this political battle and that they should re-negotiate with Subra’s faction and RoS to find an amicable solution to go back to MIC, instead of trying to run a parallel party without recognition from RoS. They also want all forms of court actions be stopped immediately.
They argue that the Presidential election will be called in August and will see Dr Subra being elected unanimously as the President of MIC.
Therefore, any amicable solution between the two factions should come before the Presidential elections, as only branches which have validly filed their nominations would be allowed to vote in the Presidential elections. Once, the new President is elected, thereafter it would be legally and morally a futile attempt to talk about any peace formula with Subra’s faction, Palanivel’s sources point out.
Some from Palanivel’s faction are impressing their team to form a new party under Palanivel’s leadership which will be declared as a friendly party with Barisan Nasional. With such a decision, they believe Palanivel would be able to retain his ministerial position. To what extend they will get Prime Minister Najib’s blessings for such a move is another question altogether.
When the meeting of Palanivel’s key supporters ends today in Putra Jaya, some answers may emerge for the pressing questions plaguing Palanivel’s faction.
-R.Mutharasan
