MIC will not appeal against the three-month suspension of its secretary-general S Sothinathan from the cabinet as deputy minister, party president S Samy Vellu announced today.

"We have decided not to do anything. Let the suspension go on," he said at Parliament lobby this morning.

"It is the prerogative of the prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) to appoint, suspend or remove (a government leader). We have no right to comment on it," he emphasised.

Yesterday, MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran said the party might appeal against the controversial decision, which was made at the cabinet meeting yesterday.

Sothinathan, who is deputy minister for natural resources and environment, was dramatically suspended for breaching BN discipline during a heated parliamentary debate on Tuesday over the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) issue.

He had questioned Deputy Health Minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad's reply on the government's decision to withdraw recognition for the Ukraine-based CSMU. The policy affects some 1,000 Malaysian students, the majority of whom are Indian Malaysians.

Following his suspension, Sothinathan's seat in Parliament was moved from the frontbench to the backbenchers block today. He will sit next to Kuala Rajang MP Abdul Wahab Dolah for the duration of his suspension.

Sothinathan, who is the Teluk Kemang MP, however did not show up in Parliament today. He had earlier said that he would devote more time to his party and his constituency during the suspension.

'Reprimand is adequate'

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang failed to move a 'motion without notice' to refer the two deputy ministers - Sothinathan and Abdul Latiff - to the House's Privileges Committee.

Lim's motion was based on Sothinathan's claims during the heated debate that Abdul Latiff had lied when he said that 200 medical graduates from unscheduled universities, all Indians, were accepted even after failing the medical qualifying examination three times.

This was recorded in the Hansard when Sothinathan first interjected Abdul Latiff with the reminder for the deputy health minister to "speak the truth", and this was followed by another remark - "don't speak the untruth".

Lim wanted the Privileges Committee to ascertain who was misleading the House with untruths and disciplinary action should be meted out to the guilty party.

After failing to obtain a ruling on his motion, Lim said he would re-table it as an ordinary motion, which requires a 14-day notice.

At a press conference later, he reiterated his call to the premier to revoke the suspension as he felt that a reprimand was adequate.

"Nobody questions the prerogative of the prime minister to suspend any frontbencher but he must be subject to public scrutiny on whether he had exercised this prerogative fairly and justly or whether he had acted hastily without observing the rules of natural justice in giving Sothinathan the right to be heard," Lim said.

He also called on the MIC not to back off from getting a cabinet's approval to suspend the de-recognition on CSMU medical degrees after the three-month suspension against Sothinathan.