Two Malaysian Indian Congress leaders sacked

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) chief Samy Vellu has sacked two senior leaders.

Expulsion letters were sent to K.P. Samy and G. Kumar Aamaan, who joined the demand that Vellu step down immediately.

Two other leaders, V. Subramaniam and V. Mugilan, were earlier sacked from the party.

The four had been giving press statements that there was a calamity in the party, The Star reported quoting unnamed party soures.

The crisis was triggered last Tuesday when Vellu announced that he would step down next year from the post he has held since 1979. His critics want him to quit immediately.

MIC, the largest party of 1.7 million ethnic Indians, is a key constituent of the ruling alliance Barisan Nasional (BN) headed by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

As criticism within MIC grew, Razak last week expressed the hope that the MIC would resolve the crisis soon.

Vell Paari, Vellu’s son and a working committee member, Tuesday accused the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), headed by Razak, of being behind a campaign to oust the MIC chief.

Vell Paari said: “It is dangerous when outsiders get involved. Forget the fact that my father is the MIC president. He was democratically elected by the branch chairmen.”

“So whenever there is a leader who does not see eye-to-eye with the powers that be, will they hire political assassins to bring him down?”