“… and I feel it will be better for the MIC president (Datuk Seri G. Palanivel) and deputy president (Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam) to announce the outcome of the talks,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid said the RoS could not be faulted for the crisis in the MIC because the RoS had merely adopted a decision based on the Societies Act 1966 and the MIC constitution.
He said he had had discussions with the RoS and obtained its views and had communicated several times with Palanivel and Dr Subramaniam on the matter.
“I hope MIC members will remain calm because the crisis was not caused by the RoS.
“The RoS had merely done its job and adopted a decision based on rules and regulations as per the party constitution,” the minister told reporters after a visit to have a first-hand look at the operations at the National Registration Department in Putrajaya.
Meanwhile, earlier report in PUTRAJAYA, said MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam are to ‘stand down’ to resolve the party crisis that has erupted following an order for re-elections from the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
In a statement Palanivel said: “We will have a moratorium. I do not want the party crisis to escalate.”
He did not state when they would stand down and for how long.
Palanivel said the moratorium would give both him and Dr Subramaniam “a period of non-crisis to resolve the issues that have come up”.
“We will meet and decide on the next course of action that will satisfy all quarters as soon as possible,” he said.
Palanivel said the moratorium would also allow him and Dr Subramaniam to meet with Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to find the best solution to the crisis.
Differences of opinion had emerged in the MIC following an order on Dec 5 last year from the RoS for the party to hold fresh elections for the three posts of vice-president and 23 posts in the Central Working Committee (CWC) within 90 days due to irregularities in the elections held at the party general assembly in Melaka on Nov 30, 2013.
Meanwhile, on the criticisms over the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) that came into effect this month, Ahmad Zahid said he would instruct the Director-General of Immigration to issue a full statement because it involved operational matters.
“We hope that the director-general can explain all that has been carried in the media and other issues that have been raised as it involves operational matters at the Immigration Department,” he said.
The FWCMS is a multi touch-point system involving a full-fledged web-based online management system backed by a secure data processing management infrastructure operated by a private company, Bestinet Sdn Bhd.
Bestinet said in a statement Wednesday that it was not responsible for the hefty increase in the visa processing fee for Indonesian migrant workers, which was one of the criticisms against the FWCMS.
–BERNAMA
