The Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) today denied recent media reports that the party had been dissolved and merged with another political party.

"These statements and reports are rejected outright as being unfounded, misleading and baseless. They were obviously (made) with ulterior motives," said its president Mohd Ali Naina Mohd.

"Kimma has not been disbanded, dissolved or dismembered, nor has it compromised the priciples laid down by its founders by merging with any other political party," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

He clarified that an insignificant number of former Kimma members had decided to join a political party but the number did not represent a fraction of one percent of the total membership of Kimma.

The party reportedly has some 80,000 members nationwide.

In February, a number of Kimma members joined the Barisan Nasional component party PPP. Kimma had also then dismissed news reports that it approached PPP president M Kayveas with a proposal for a merger.

New direction

Meanwhile, Mohd Ali said Kimma accepted and respected the ex-members' decision to join another political entity as any democratic party should.

However, he added that the party regarded as mischievous the assumption that its membership could be used to bolster the sagging political influence of certain parties.

Mohd Ali also said that Kimma was heading in a new direction which he would elaborate on at the appropriate time.

He assured the Indian Muslim society that Kimma's integrity, independence and its loyalty to the government would not be compromised in any way.