M Mahalingam has been removed from his position as MIC treasurer-general with immediate effect by party president S Samy Vellu.
Mahalingam was informed of the termination via a letter that was hand-delivered to the veteran politician at the MIC headquarters yesterday evening.
Contacted today, the former MIC vice-president confirmed that he has been removed but declined to elaborate.It is learnt that the letter signed by Samy Vellu did not state any reasons for the removal.
"I received the letter yesterday evening. I can only say that he (Samy Vellu) has the right to appoint and remove (the treasurer-general)," said Mahalingam.
Quizzed on the reasons for his removal, the former senator replied: "You have to ask him (Samy Vellu)."
A routine exercise
In a statement issued later today, Samy Vellu called Mahalingam's removal as a "routine exercise".
"I have decided to change the treasurer. This is a routine exercise. I will announce the new treasurer next week," he said.
Samy Vellu said that it was time for a younger person to be in charge of the party's finances, saying that this was part of the party's rebranding exercise.
"I am making the changes in stages. I will also have to move on and make way for younger people.
"It is part of our rebranding exercise. I've to embark on this exercise as the party is now pulling in younger members," he added.
The veteran president also thanked Mahalingam for his services.
Malaysiakini also learnt that the decision to remove Mahalingam was made by the president without consultation with the party's decision making central working committee.
Seen as a stumbling block
According to reports, Mahalingam, who also heads MIC's education investment arm MIED Capital Sdn Bhd, has been told to relinquish his posts in the education and investment wings of the party.
The former deputy minister and two-time MP was appointed treasurer-general in 2000. He has always been regarded as a strong ally of Samy Vellu.
However, a party source claimed that ties between the two had soured lately and Mahalingam was seen as being close to former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam.
"Mahalingam had also expressed critical views about the party's top leadership in private," said the source, adding that he was also a 'stumbling block' with regard to certain investments.
Mahalingam who joined MIC in 1958 was also the former parliamentary secretary to the Health Ministry.
The treasurer-general, secretary-general and information chief in MIC are appointed by the president, who also reserves the exclusive power to terminate the service of office-bearers.
Action against Samy's challenger?
In another development, Bernama reported that the MIC central working committee (CWC) is mulling disciplinary action against another former Samy Vellu strongman, M Muthupalaniappan, for making public statements against the interest of the party.
Muthupalaniappan had recently announced his decision to contest against Samy Vellu for the top post in next year’s party polls.
According to Bernama, the CWC, in a meeting last Thursday chaired by Samy Vellu, decided that the matter be looked at by the disciplinary committee headed by party veteran G Vadiveloo.
However, Vadiveloo neither denied nor confirmed that Muthupalaniappan was being investigated for issuing statements against the interests of the party, only saying: "I cannot comment on that".
Muthupalaniappan, the former MIC vice-president, announced his intention to contest the presidency a month ago and has since been issuing statements on party matters.
However, it is not clear if any of these statements were in violation of the MIC constitution, which entitles the president, on the advice of the CWC and the disciplinary committee, to expel any member found guilty for issuing public statements against the interests of the party.
In a recent exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, Muthupalaniappan had criticised Samy Vellu and expressed confidence of winning the position.
Meanwhile, Muthupalaniappan's press secretary V Thiagarajan said his boss was aware that he would be investigated by the disciplinary board but "he has nothing to hide because he did not issue any statement against the interests of the party".
"He knows of the CWC's decision. We have gone through all the newspaper cuttings and whatever my boss said, but nothing was said against the interests of the party.
“We will see what the disciplinary committee wants and cooperate with them," he told Bernama - malaysiakini.com
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