Barisan to meet MIC following Perikatan resolution

KOTA KINABALU: Barisan Nasional will meet with MIC’s top leadership regarding the party’s decision to join Perikatan Nasional, says coalition deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan. 

He said he would be arranging the meeting and that he was confident the party would make the right decision on whether or not to remain in Barisan, given their history of cooperation. 

The MIC, he said, was the only party together with Umno and MCA in the fight for indepen­dence in 1957. 

“Barisan and MIC enjoyed good relations for a long time; we were very close. So, if some issues or misunderstandings require clarification, we should discuss this together,” he told reporters at Membakut yesterday.

On Sunday, the MIC annual ge­neral assembly unanimously approved a resolution to leave Barisan and join Perikatan.

Its president, Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran, had said the party’s central working committee would study the resolution before determining the next course of action.

Mohamad said that talks were important to ensure long-standing relations did not end abruptly. 

He voiced hope that MIC would not leave Barisan. 

“When the waves are strong and the seas are rough, let’s ‘dock’ at the jetties first. Let’s fix our ‘ship’,” he said.

“Let’s patch any leak. We fix things that are wrong, and we will head to the seas again once the rough waves have subsided.”

He said the meeting with MIC could take place after the Sabah polls conclude on Nov 29.