Saravanan scoffs at Tok Mat's advice for talks within BN

Cracks between Umno and MIC appear to be deepening, with MIC deputy president M Saravanan penning a strongly worded response to his Umno counterpart’s recent call for internal issues to be confined to BN supreme council meetings.

Claiming that crucial matters were never tabled there in the first place, Saravanan listed a laundry list of instances when the coalition’s component parties - minus Umno - were left in the dark over key matters which should have been brought to such meetings.

In particular, the Tapah MP recounted how after the 15th general election, BN was plunged into turmoil when its chairperson, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, sent a letter to the palace declaring the coalition’s support for Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.

The move, Saravanan said, was made unilaterally without the knowledge, consent, or mandate of the BN supreme council.

He added that when news of the letter surfaced, three out of four BN component parties supposedly agreed that Zahid should relinquish his position, with Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan lined up to take over as coalition chairperson.

“(Mohamad) himself agreed, yet when the time came, he remained silent. The decision was never implemented.

“If BN’s own resolutions cannot be enforced, what is the point of lecturing others about ‘discussing in meetings’?” Saravanan questioned in a statement today.

He also asserted that the statutory declarations signed by BN’s election candidates, decisions on seat allocations, and Umno vice-president Johari Abdul Ghani’s appointment as a minister were topics never brought before the BN supreme council.

“If crucial matters are never tabled, and if decisions made in the meeting are never enforced, then what value are these meetings (Mohamad) is suddenly defending?

“When the courts decided that the ‘addendum’ related to (former Umno president) Najib Abdul Razak does indeed exist, was it ever discussed at the BN supreme council whether the coalition should remain aligned or distance itself from those responsible? Again, there was silence,” he added.

Saravanan’s tirade comes after Mohamad yesterday asked MIC why it kept quiet during BN meetings but is expressing dissatisfaction elsewhere.

Recommending that MIC stop issuing statements outside of the coalition's supreme council, the BN deputy chairperson also cautioned that such actions may affect the harmony between the coalition’s component parties.

‘Don’t know to laugh or cry’

However, Saravanan stressed that while MIC has always spoken up “firmly, consistently, and with principle,” the real problem lies in Umno’s “betrayal of coalition trust”.

He added that while he views Mohamad as a “good friend” and has always held him in high regard, the latter appeared “helpless and uncertain” at critical junctures, seemingly tangled in the rumble of internal party politics.

“(For Mohamad) to now turn around and lecture MIC on ‘speaking up,’ when Umno itself bulldozed coalition partners, misled the palace, and ignored BN’s own resolutions, is not only unfair, but deeply ironic,” Saravanan said.

Noting that he is unsure “whether to cry or laugh” over Mohamad’s “sudden concern” in ensuring matters are discussed at BN’s meetings, Saravanan emphasised that MIC will never remain silent when the dignity of its community and the principles of coalition politics are at stake.

Recently, four MIC state liaison committees passed resolutions to withdraw from BN.

Amid the mounting resentment from MIC and its fellow BN member MCA, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man invited the two parties to join opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional.

PN secretary-general Azmin Ali, in turn, noted this invitation as a “positive development” towards the next 16th general election.

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