"I will stay here until my last breath. I will die for the Indian community."

This is the pledge made by G Kumar Aaman after kicking off his hunger strike outside the Registrar of Societies (ROS) office in Putrajaya.

Kumar was appointed as secretary-general by party president G Palanivel, but the ROS has not recognised his position.

The MIC man vowed not to budge until the Home Ministry intervenes and removes ROS director-general Mohammad Razin Abdullah and its investigating officers over the party's election woes.

 

Speaking to reporters, Kumar said he would sleep outside the building and ingest only liquids until justice is done.

 

Accompanying him was his laywer T Rajasekaran, central working committee member KP Samy and information chief L Sivasubramaniam.

 

MIC is in a turmoil after being ordered by ROS to hold a fresh election for its three vice-presidents and central working committee (CWC) members.

Kumar revealed that his action was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's protest for justice.

"I am emulating Mahatma Gandhi. He is my role model," he said as his supporters nodded their agreement.

The strike which started at 2pm would go on until Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi answers a memorandum that was sent earlier today demanding the replacement of ROS staff.

"ROS director-general and the officers must be replaced, and a new investigation be opened into MIC," he said.

Not part of M'sian culture

Kumar said he chose a spot at the corner of the building for his hunger strike because he did not want to "bother the public and ROS staff coming in and out of the building".

Taking a swipe at former president S Samy Vellu, Kumar said that MIC members are generally poor.

"Only the cronies of Samy Vellu (former president) are rich," he added.

His lawyer Rajasekaran accused the ROS director-general of being unfair to Palanivel by over-riding the president's decision to appoint members.

He said a new investigation should be opened regarding the malfunction of a CCTV camera at the ROS's office when its officers met with a certain MIC leader.

"Even MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) confirmed that the camera was not working," he added.

Meanwhile, MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam said hunger strikes are not part of Malaysian culture.

“It is not a culture we should allow. Not in Malaysia. That is an Indian culture. Leave it in that continent.

“We should bring the good aspects and not the bad aspects of the culture into this country,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

The ROS remains unreachable for a comment, saying only that its director-general, officers and spokesperson were either in a meeting or on holiday.