Kayveas warns Murugiah not to interfere in PPP affairs

(Bernama) – PPP president Datuk M Kayveas has warned sacked supreme council member Senator Datuk T Murugiah not to interfere in the party's affairs.

Kayveas said Murugiah, who is also deputy minister in the prime minister's department, was no longer a PPP member after failing to appeal within the stipulated time against his expulsion from the party.

He said the appeal period for Murugiah and six others who were also expelled expired on 30 May, and as such, under Article 19.3 of the party constitution, they were no longer members of the party.

"My warning to them and others who act as their agents or support them in any activity detrimental to the party is that they will face stern action.

"The seven are no longer members of PPP and they are warned not to interfere in the affairs of PPP. There is no way anyone can legalise a gathering which was secretly turned into an emergency meeting midway," Kayveas said in a statement issued here today.

He said the PPP constitution was perfectly clear in that only a general assembly could elect the supreme council, and a purported emergency meeting could not usurp the powers of the PPP general assembly.

Kayveas said the PPP's 56th General Assembly would take place as planned this Sunday based on the statement by the Registrar of Societies (ROS), Datuk Md Alias Kalil, last week.

According to Alias, the party president would still be Kayveas until the ROS office completed its investigation into the problems between Kayveas and Murugiah.

Murugiah, who declared himself the new PPP president following an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 24 May in Putrajaya, said in a press conference earlier today that he would accept the report by the ROS regarding PPP's internal crisis.

Murugiah said he had met with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last weekend and explained the situation. "I will accept whatever finding by the ROS, and I will accept the prime minister and deputy prime minister's decision," he said.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin, who was given the task by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to find out the status of PPP following its leadership crisis, today said a ROS officer had informed him that they needed time to prepare the report, and that they would inform Najib when the report was ready.

Najib is supposed to open the PPP general assembly this Sunday.

The PPP crisis reached a climax when Murugiah, who was expelled as a member of the party's supreme council by the party's disciplinary board for allegedly committing various offences, was elected president by the 1,760 delegates at the EGM, which allegedly involved more than two-thirds of the PPP branches.

Kayveas who maintains that he is still the legitimate party president, had criticised the move by Murugiah in calling for the EGM.