Zahid urges MIC folk not to drag ROS to court

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today urged disgruntled MIC members not to consider taking legal action against the Registrar of Societies (ROS) over the latter's directive for the embattled party to hold re-elections.

"I hope no individuals will drag ROS to court over this matter.

"ROS is always open for discussion and any issue can always be settled by talking to them," Zahid said during a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He also insisted that ROS did not "take sides" in the internal MIC battle that has caused a stalemate within the party.

Zahid at a special press conference in Putrajaya today announced ROS has ordered re-elections for all MIC's branches, wings, divisions and central leadership, including one for the president's post in May.

Party president G Palanivel and his supporters had previously disputed the ROS directive for re-elections issued in December, and there had been speculations about the battle being taken to court.

Zahid also stressed that ROS was merely being fair to all the relevant parties from within MIC.

Some MIC leaders have trained their guns on the ROS in the past, accusing the investigation into its party elections to be flawed, and also accusing the government body of being involved in corruption concerning the MIC probe.

"I have personally spoken to both Palanivel and his deputy S Subramaniam. They are both good friends of mine.

"We are not siding with anyone. I was just being professional and helping out since the ROS asked me to do so," he said.

"The ROS is only trying to find the best solutions to this problem," Zahid added.