Malaysian Indian Congress leader sacked for criticizing party

Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), Jan.25 (ANI): Former Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) vice-president M. Muthupalaniappan has been sacked for making statements against the party.

According to the Star, Muthupalaniappan was sacked more than a month after receiving a show cause notice from the MIC disciplinary committee following a complaint over his alleged statements in a Tamil newspaper on November 11, 2008 and on an Internet news portal on December 17, 2008.

Party disciplinary committee chairman G. Vadiveloo said a letter was sent to Muthupalaniappan on Wednesday stating that a three-member panel had unanimously agreed that he had made statements against the party. He, however, said Muthupalaniappan could appeal to the party's Central Working Committee (CWC) within two weeks.

Reacting to the move, Muthupalaniappan described the sacking as an "eyewash" to prevent him from contesting against party president S. Samy Vellu.

He said he was not given a chance to produce witnesses to prove that the statements he had made were "lawful and the truth".

"The whole (disciplinary hearing) process was an eyewash and meant to pre-empt me from contesting in the upcoming MIC presidential election," he said, adding that his removal would not stop him from providing service to the Malay Indian community and the nation. (ANI)