Petaling Jaya, Feb 4- The MIC will hold its first central working committee (CWC) meeting for the 2013/16 term on Thursday and all attention will be focused on how it tackles several contentious issues.
This is because the meeting, comprising about 40 party leaders would deliberate if the largest Indian based party in the country should hold a re-election to pick its three vice presidents and 23 CWC members.
The party’s internal polls on Nov 30, last year, was marred by allegations of vote manipulation and several leaders have filed appeals to the leadership for the polls to be held again.
They have even asked the Registrar of Societies to intervene and force the party leadership to hold a re-election.
The post of president and deputy president was clinched uncontested by G Palanivel and Dr S Subramaniam respectively.
Party chief G Palanivel has not called for a CWC meeting since the polls and this has made things worse, fueling speculation that there was indeed misappropriation of votes at the elections last year.
Now, a new question has popped-up. Can the CWC, whose members were picked at the same election, hear and decide the matter fairly without fear or favour?
“It is a norm for a member of the CWC to stand down from the meeting if the matter discussed involves an individual. Now, in this case only seven out of the nearly 40 CWC members would be able to hear the malpractice complaints,” a party veteran, who declined to be named, told FMT
All eyes on Palanivel
in the past when S Samy Vellu was party president, the norm was for a CWC member to excuse himself when matters related to the individual was discussed.
“When N Muniandy from Ampang was sacked from the party, Samy Vellu excused himself from the meeting. Muniandy had made some allegations against Samy and the then president felt that any decision taken in his presence would not be fair.
“Another instance is the case of V Subramaniam from Petaling Jaya. Subramaniam was against Samy Vellu and had supported Palanivel for president. During the CWC meeting to hear his case both Samy Vellu and Palanivel stepped out. And since the then top vice president Dr S Subramaniam was absent from the meeting, another veep SK Devanamy chaired the meeting.
“Going by this only seven leaders would be in a position to hear the election offences petitions in the party. They would be deputy president Dr S Subramaniam, the Youth and Wanita chiefs and four Youth and Wanita elected representatives to the CWC…two each from the respective wings,” he added.
He said Palanivel would, obviously, need to step down from the CWC meeting because most of the complaints were against him.
“The three vice-presidents and the entire CWC should not hear the matter. It is like the perpetrators of a crime hearing and sentencing themselves for a crime committed. They would be acting as judge and jury for their own case,” the party veteran added.
Meanwhile, a lawyer well versed with party matters said the failure of Palanivel and the CWC to recuse themselves from the meeting would only strengthen the case of those who have petitioned for a re-election.
“When the issue goes to the Registrar of Societies, they will argue that the current leaders did not follow party procedures in hearing appeals. They will also accuse the present CWC, including the president of bias,” he added.
He said although the party constitution does not allow members to take party matters to court, they can seek legal redress from the Registrar of Societies.
“If the Registrar of Societies says it is investigating the matter, then the party would be hanging until a decision is made and this is not good for the MIC,” he added.
-FreeMalaysiaToday
