Kayveas tells Murugiah to check in to Tanjung Rambutan

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid and Melissa Loovi - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — There appears to be no hope for reconciliation between Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) president Datuk M Kayveas and sacked party leader Datuk T Murugiah after the former blasted the latter as a mental case and suggested that he gets professional help.

Although Kayveas had in the past stated that there is still hope for Murugiah to make amends, calling Murugiah a nut case and telling him to “check in to Tanjung Rambutan” is likely to kill off any chance of Murugiah apologising to his former boss.

“Since he is from Perak, he should get a mind check at (a mental hospital in) Tanjung Rambutan,” he told reporters at a press conference held after a BN supreme council meeting.

Murugiah was sacked by the party’s supreme council two days ago for using his deputy minister’s office in the Prime Minister's Department to hold a press conference which tarnished the good name of the party and making highly defamatory remarks against the party, the supreme council and party’s leadership.

Murugiah had also infuriated the party’s top leadership when he threatened to use all his powers to get the party deregistered. The supreme council then came up with a resolution to demand his sacking.

Also axed were six other party members believed to be Murugiah’s supporters.

Although Murugiah is the party’s sole representative in the Cabinet, Kayveas said he “would rather lose the post than deal with Murugiah.”

Kayveas however said there is still chance for Murugiah to appeal against the sacking as he still has 12 days to present his case to the party’s supreme council.

“If he does not reply in within the time given to him, we will make a recommendation to nominate someone to replace him from our party to the prime minister. The Cabinet post is not given to Murugiah but to PPP,” he told reporters.

The PPP president was then asked about Murugiah’s statement that he has the backing of majority of the party members after he claimed to have gathered 100,000 signatures as a sign of support.

“I also can get a million signatures. This is a cheap, low cost tactic,” he said. Kayveas also claimed that the signatures collected by Murugiah are not even those belonging to party members.

Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, speaking at a press conference held after chairing his first BN supreme council meeting, said the open spat between Kayveas and Murugiah is an internal matter and should be dealt with internally.

This means that Murugiah could stand to lose his government post if he refuses to apologise to Kayveas as Najib’s statement indicated that he would have no qualms about replacing Murugiah with anyone from PPP should the party indicate its intention to replace the sacked leader.