Malaysia\’s newest Indian party plans to remove chief

KUALA LUMPUR - The seven-month-old Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party is in the throes of an internal crisis with its secretary general campaigning to remove the party chief.

Formed in May and launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak on Oct 10, the party will convene its first Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in 90 days to elect a new president, secretary general R. Kannan said Monday.

The EGM had to be held as members felt the party was \”lifeless under the leadership of party president R.S. Thanenthiran,\” New Straits Times reported Tuesday.

\”We will send Thanenthiran a letter this week asking him to resign. Whatever his decision is, we will remove him and elect a new president at the EGM,\” Kannan said.

The party had not organised activities for members and failed to serve the people, especially the nearly two million Indian community, he added.

Kannan described Thanenthiran\’s actions as \”immature, uncivilised and undemocratic\”, especially his decision to lock up the party\’s headquarters to prevent central committee members from holding a meeting there last Saturday.

As a result, 15 of the 27 central committee members held the meeting under a canopy in front of the headquarters.

Three motions were adopted, one of them to hold a vote of no-confidence against Thanenthiran and another appointing him the party adviser after his resignation.

On the candidature for the president\’s post, Kannan said businessman O.M.S. Thiagarajan had shown interest to \”save the party\”.

Deputy president A. Vathemurthy claimed that more than 500,000 ethnic Indians could join the party once Thanenthiran steps down.

As of now, the party had more than 58,000 registered members.

Makkal Sakthi is one of the many parties speaking for the ethnic Indians that are members of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN).

The prime minister, who also heads the BN, will be apprised of the situation in the party, Vathemurthy