Malaysia Update

KUALA LUMPUR: A day before he is supposed to face MIC disciplinary proceedings, Datuk M. Muthu Palaniappan took a swipe at the MIC party president, accusing him of "hiding behind" the committee.

Muthu alleged that party supremo Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu was afraid to take him on for the party president's post and was using the disciplinary committee to oust him.


The 66-year-old, who faces the disciplinary committee today for allegedly making statements detrimental to the party said: "Samy Vellu had previously claimed he could take on 100 contenders for the presidency, so why isn't he taking up my challenge?"

The former MIC vice president said having been terrorised by the party leadership over the past 10 years, he was not power-crazy.

"I'm a genuine MIC man and I want to put a stop to Samy Vellu's leadership which has brought much disappointment to the community.
"I can't bear to see the community moving away from MIC to join other parties and the hundreds of branches being suspended and members expelled by Samy Vellu."

Edited From NST

MANAMA (Bahrain): Malaysia is hopeful that negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Malaysia can commence as soon as possible, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

“I strongly believe that an FTA will have a significant impact in improving the status of bilateral trade and investment between Malaysia and the Gulf region which unfortunately it still small,” he said.

He said the business communities of the Gulf region would also find the prospect of an FTA very enticing because Malaysia could be used as a platform to penetrate the Asean market and other lucrative markets of Malaysia’s FTA partners such as Japan, China and South Korea.

Edited from : The Star