About 300 Malaysian Indian members of Gerakan, the fourth-largest component in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, have quit the party, according to the leader of a disgruntled faction .

A Rajaretnam, a Gerakan member since 1993, said he had resigned from the party and his post as secretary of the Lembah Jaya division in Ampang, on March 20, a day before the general election was held..

"I gave my resignation letter, which took effect immediately. to the division head," Rajaretnam ( photo, right ) said when contacted today.

"So far, between 200 and 300 members have submitted their resignation letters to their respective branch and division leaders. I'm expecting more members to do the same."

He alleged that the branches had kept quiet about the mass resignations for fear of it becoming an election issue.

"In Selangor, about 15 of the 50 'all-Indian' branches will be closed. In fact, some members have already joined the PPP while others are contemplating joining the MIC."

Rajaretnam said the branches were mainly in Hulu Kelang, Kuala Langat, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor.

No confirmation

Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye could not be reached for confirmation. But an official at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur denied that resignation letters had been received.

It is learnt that some of the Indian Malaysian members who want to remain in Gerakan are planning to meet party president Dr Lim Keng Yaik but that a date has not been confirmed.

Vice-president Dr S Vijayaratnam said he has not heard of any mass resignations.

"To the best of my knowledge, there have been no resignation letters. Such letters are usually addressed to the secretary-general," he said when contacted in Seremban.

He said that in the absence of any resignation letter, the membership was considered valid.

"In such cases, the party constitution provides for a one-year automatic grace period to update the membership by just settling the outstanding subscription fee," he explained.

"Failing this, the membership lapses naturally and the person has to notify the party to get his/her membership updated again."

Two weeks before the general election, the group had demanded that party president Lim nominates one Indian Malaysian parliamentary candidate in Selangor, given that there are 20,000 party members from the community in the state.

They claimed it was time Gerakan did so, especially since the party has an estimated 60,000 Indian Malaysian members nationwide.

When this did not materialise, Rajaretnam's group threatened to unseat Lim by influencing voters in his Beruas parliamentary constituency. However Lim retained his seat by more than 4,500 votes.

Contemplating future

Rajaretnam was also skeptical about Lim's campaign promise to set up a foundation worth RM1 million for poor Indian Malaysians.

"I would like to know if this foundation going to be set up and who is going to run it. Is the RM1 million an annual allocation or a one-off promise?" he asked.

"Why has he only now thought of such a foundation despite having been a member of parliament and cabinet minister all these years?"

Asked about his next move, Rajaretnam said he was still considering which political party to join.

"I would prefer a multi-racial party like the PPP but I'm not sure if it has enough clout to move matters.

"I may even join an opposition party like the DAP, which even if predominantly Chinese, still appears to treat its Malay and Malaysian Indian members fairly."

As to whether he would reconsider his membership in Gerakan, he said this would only be possible "if party leaders change the unwritten policy and treat non-Chinese members fairly".