Kuala Lumpur : The Malaysian National Congress (MIC) must hold fresh party elections by July this year to avoid being deregistered, the country’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Monday.
The MIC — one of the oldest political parties of Malaysia which represented the ethnic Indian community in the country — was ordered by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to conduct re-election for all their branches, wings, divisions and central leadership, the Malaysian Insider reported.
The home minister said that the party, which was part of the country’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, had to organise internal elections to ensure the dispute in the election of its office bearers could be solved.
Hamidi said that the party’s presidential election must be held in May, branch elections in April, elections for the women and youth wings between April and June and rest of the re-election process by July.
If MIC failed to hold the elections by the date stipulated by the RoS, it could be deregistered under Section 13 of the Societies Act 1966.
“RoS’s decision to ask MIC to hold re-elections is seen as a more practical approach to solve the dispute comprehensively,” said Hamidi.
The MIC has been in crisis since the RoS found irregularities in the party elections and ordered it to conduct fresh polls.
The RoS directive sparked fears that the failure to conduct fresh polls would result in the party’s deregistration.
MIC deputy president S. Subramaniam and vice president M. Saravanan had urged party president G. Palanivel to respond to the RoS findings that the elections of its central working committee members in 2013 were problematic and that fresh polls should be held.
On the meeting between Prime Minister Najib Razak and MIC leaders, which Hamidi had also attended, the home minister said Razak had emphasised that he wanted the MIC to solve its problems amicably for it to function again and support the BN coalition.
The MIC was established in August 1946 with the aim of ending British rule, as well as to represent the ethnic Indian community in the post-war development of the country.
Ethnic Indians comprise a little over seven percent of Malaysia’s total population of nearly 30 million.