PETALING JAYA, JUNE 18- The MIC emergency central working committee (CWC) meeting tomorrow could turn out to be a tame affair contrary to earlier reports that the session will witness a pow-wow between factions in the party.
Party sources say this is because MIC president G. Palanivel has decided to hold the party polls in July and not December as earlier announced.
FMT learnt that the party president had soften his stance on the party election dates after advice by several party leaders that holding the polls earlier would be beneficial for him and the party.
MIC held its last election in 2009. In that election the then party supremo S. Samy Vellu won the presidency uncontested. He relinquished the post in 2010 and Palanivel was made acting president by virtue of being the deputy president then.
The party was supposed to have held its polls in 2012 but postponed it due to the pending 13th general election. Soon after the general election last month, the party announced that it would only hold its elections starting at the branch level from December onwards.
This would mean that the election for the president and other top posts can only be held in the first six months of 2014. Detractors to this plan have said that this would result in the party not holding any election for five years (2009-2014).
The source said Palanivel would give the green light for all MIC branches to hold their annual general meeting by next month while the presidential election will be somewhere between September and November.
MIC practises a unique system where the president is picked by the party’s 4,000 branch chairmen.
Polls for other positions – deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 CWC members – are held three months after the presidential polls. Leaders for all these posts are picked by about 1,400 divisional delegates.
Apart from the party elections, MIC’s claim to the Perak state assembly speaker’s post would also be discussed at the meeting.
However, party insiders reveal that Palanivel may withdraw his earlier remark that the party will not accept any post in the Perak government if it is not given the state assembly speaker’s position.
“He came under fire for the statement in the cabinet. Two Umno ministers were critical of Palanivel’s statement at the cabinet meeting.
However, Palanivel told them that he was misquoted by the newspapers.
Meanwhile, a memorandum to “retire” aged branch chairmen could be another issue to liven up the meeting.
V.T. Rajen (photo), the Taman Mujur branch chairman in Kota Raja today submitted a memorandum to the party secretary-general A. Sakthivel, requesting the party’s highest decision-making body to pass a resolution requiring all branch leaders above 55 years to resign and pave way for the young generation.
Speaking to FMT, Rajen said he decided to send the memorandum after obtaining views of the young leaders.
“Yes, we respect the senior branch chairmen who have contributed to the party. But, they should understand that their time is up. MIC needs young blood. The current political scenario needs young vibrant leaders,” he added.
Rajen also claimed that the inability of branch leaders to get “connected” to the internet was one of the reasons why the party was left behind in terms of development.
“How can branch chairmen bring the national agenda to the grassroots when they do not use the Internet?” he asked.
