Ex-MIC leaders earmarked to lead future Indian party in PN

Bersatu sources say a committee of Indians will be formed within PN which will form the nucleus of a new party for the Indian community.

(FMT) – Perikatan Nasional is forming an all-Indian committee, fronted by former MIC leaders, with a view to setting up a new single-race party within the opposition coalition, a Bersatu leader said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the leader said talks with former MIC leaders on the subject were ongoing.

“They will start with the committee, which will most likely be in place before the state elections. The end goal here is to form a component party within PN,” the source, who is a division leader, said.

Meanwhile, a leader from the Bersatu associates’ wing claimed many MIC members were unhappy with the way the party was being managed.

“I have been told by some MIC members that they do not see eye-to-eye with the party leadership, so in the coming months, we will see many more MIC members leaving the party to join the PN committee,” he said.

The source said a recent high-profile departure from MIC was expected to head the committee.

“We will welcome them as it will help us to gain support from Indian voters,” he said.

Earlier, Malaysiakini reported that C Sivaraj admitted that he had two meetings with Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin in the weeks after he was removed from MIC’s central working committee last month.

Sivaraj, a senator who subsequently resigned from the party, said he had yet to decide on his next political move.

Following Sivaraj’s departure, Selangor MIC Youth chief P Punithan handed in his resignation letter to party president SA Vigneswaran last week, citing “personal reasons” to the press. Punithan was also the party’s Batang Berjuntai Youth chief.

However, he said he was not giving up on politics and that “resigning from MIC is not the end of my political career”.