Malaysian Indian Congress forced to re-elect top posts

For the first time, Malaysia's largest ethnic Indians-based political party MIC has been forced to hold re-elections for its top posts after irregularities were found in its previous internal polls.
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) Deputy president S Subramaniam said the Registrar of Societies (ROS), had found irregularities in the party elections held in November last year and recommended that the posts of three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members be re-elected.
"This is a sad and black day for the members because the party has been brought to this level. Such a situation has never occurred since the party's formation in 1946," he told reporters here today.

Subramaniam, who is also the Health Minister, said secretary general A Prakash Rao received the letter from the ROS yesterday evening.
"Since the party president G. Palanivel is overseas attending a conference, the contents of the letter were conveyed to him. The president has advised the secretary- general to implement the requirements of the ROS letter," he said.
Subramaniam said following investigations, the ROS confirmed that there were weaknesses and irregularities in conforming with the party's constitution and Societies Act.

MIC is an important component of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition party.
Eight per cent of Malaysia's 28 million people are ethnic Indians.

The MIC has also postponed its annual general meetings scheduled for this month to pave the way for fresh elections for its 23-member Central Working Committee (CWC) and three posts of vice-president .
However, Subramaniam did not say whether there would be fresh election for the Youth and Wanita wings as well.
He called on party members to remain calm and focused, saying the party that represented the minority ethnic Indian community was known to champion the needs of the community.
"The party will not be destroyed by one incident like this. Let us stand together strongly. Let's make whatever changes we need in order to take the party to greater heights," he said.

The ROS had investigated several complaints of irregularities at the party elections last year.
The complainants wanted the ROS to nullify the results and order fresh polls for the CWC and other senior posts.
The 2013-2016 MIC elections last year saw a contest among eight senior leaders for the three posts of vice-president while 88 candidates, among them two women, vied for the 23 posts in the CWC.