KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 – Datuk Seri G. Palanivel today expressed confidence that he would retain the post of MIC president at the party’s presidential election on Sept 22.
The natural resources and environment minister said he also believed that Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam would also be returned as deputy president unopposed.
“This is because there will be no powerful challengers to the posts of president and deputy president,” he said, adding that Dr Subramaniam would not be contesting the post of president as speculated.
Speaking to reporters after launching the Asian Mining and Energy Investment (AMEI) Forum 2013 here, he said “more people” would be contesting the three posts of vice-president and the 23 posts in the central working committee (CWC).
The MIC presidential election will take place on Sept 22 in the event there is a contest for the post at nomination on Sept 1.
The MIC president will be elected by the party’s 4,200 branch chairmen nationwide. The deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee (CWC) members will be elected by 1,500 party delegates.
Palanivel said he had received 1,500 nominations (for the post of president) so far, and added that the nominations could reach 1,800 by tomorrow and might exceed 3,000 by next week when nomination closes.
“Things look good. I don’t think there will be a contest,” said Palanivel, who took over as president of the party, which boasts 680,000 members in 3,988 branches nationwide, from Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu in 2010.
On party matters, Palanivel said party leaders were working on constitutional reform to bring about major changes to strengthen the MIC so that it would not be seen as a party on the decline.
“Every state chairman must be elected, and not appointed. This includes the office bearers like the secretary and treasurer. Appointing them will not work. We need to elect them to strengthen the party. That is what we need, similar to Umno’s system of electing division chiefs,” he said.
– BERNAMA
