KUALA LUMPUR — MIC leaders should attempt to arrive at a political solution to the party crisis instead of taking the matter to court, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic) said.
A political problem should be resolved by political means, and if there is agreement to go ahead with re-elections, then this should be done in a democratic manner, he said.
Ahmad Zahid said MIC leaders should abide by the party constitution and rules and what they had agreed to should be translated into implementation politically.
“The crisis will not be resolved if the matter is taken straight to court,” he told reporters after an official visit to the Department of Civil Defence headquarters here yesterday.
Ahmad Zahid said on Feb 9 that the Registrar of Societies (RoS), which came under the jurisdiction of his ministry, had agreed that MIC hold re-elections for all posts between April and July this year to avoid being de-registered.
On Monday (23rd February) MIC Central Working Committee (CWC) member K. Ramalingam (pic) applied for a judicial review, seeking the RoS and its director-general, Mohammad Razin Abdullah, to retract the directives sent to the party.
The MIC crisis erupted due to differences of opinion after the RoS nullified the November 2013 elections for the three posts of vice-president and 23 CWC posts following complaints of irregularities.
The RoS, in a letter dated Dec 5, 2014, instructed MIC to hold re-elections for these posts within 90 days.
On Feb 14, MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel asked the RoS to withdraw all its instructions to the party, claiming that they went contrary to the Societies Act and party constitution, and threatened to take the RoS to court. At today’s news conference, Ahmad Zahid said the RoS would send observers to help MIC carry out the instructions as per the party constitution and rules, nothing more than that.
“The decisions of the RoS are based on the MIC constitution and rules,” he said.
He said that as the home minister, and in charge of the RoS, he had never intervened in the administration of any political party, including MIC.
Ahmad Zahid said Palanivel and MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam had agreed to whatever the RoS had stated in its letters.
These were decisions reached at a meeting among Palanivel; Dr Subramaniam; Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak; Deputy Prime Minister and BN deputy chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and himself, he said.
On Feb 18, Tengku Adnan said in a statement that Palanivel would call a meeting of the 2009 CWC to set up an independent elections committee.
Ahmad Zahid said Tengku Adnan had said then that the decision was reached at another meeting among Najib, Muhyiddin, Palanivel, Dr Subramaniam and himself (Tengku Adnan).
Tengku Adnan had also said that the meeting agreed that the MIC hold re-elections and that the list of the 2009 CWC members be used as per the decision of the RoS, he said.
Ahmad Zahid said that Palanivel, after meeting with his supporters, had changed his stand several times. He said the MIC president should explain the decision arrived at instead of going by what his supporters said.
“How can the party problem be resolved if he changes his stand each time a decision is reached? Although Palanivel and MIC had the right to go to court or seek a judicial review, I feel this is not just a legal problem but a political one,” he said.
— BERNAMA
