“I will make the final decision if I should stay or go after they have reviewed my appeal,” said the former Kapar MP to FMT after handing in his appeal letter at the PKR headquarters here today.

Manickavasagam was suspended on Aug 25 after the disciplinary board found him guilty of slandering PKR’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim in April while speaking at a temple.

Manickavasagam denied the allegation and recalled that he had gone to prison for Anwar during the “reformasi” time.

He also said he should have been informed in private about his suspension, instead of via messaging app Whatsapp.

It was especially sad when he had spent 17 years working hard for the party, yet it chose to suspend him and not listen to his explanation, he said.

“If you were to check anywhere on the internet you will find that I spoke only good things about him (Anwar). He is my boss and my idol, how can I speak ill of him?” he said.

He claimed PKR had not questioned witnesses present at the temple in Kapar where he was invited to inaugurate a statue of Lord Muruga in April.

Together with his appeal letter, Manickavasagam submitted a video on him at the statue inauguration, which he claimed was produced by the temple as proof that he did not speak ill of Anwar in his speech.

He reiterated his previous claims that a Malay party member who was not even present at the Hindu temple event had complained to PKR that he slandered Anwar there.

He claimed that when he arrived there a few men who were drunk caused a stir and started hitting out at Anwar and him, as they were unhappy with him being given the post of Bukit Melawati constituency coordinator.

But the issue was settled after he mentioned in his speech about the good things the Selangor government was doing, and the persons apologised.

He added that he lodged a police report on the incident but messages accusing him of slandering Anwar were circulated on social media.

In a statement last week, PKR’s communications director Fahmi Fadzil said party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution had informed Manikavasagam, who is a central leadership council member, that his party membership had been suspended for two years effective Aug 25.

“This is the decision of the party’s political bureau, based on a report by the party’s disciplinary board which found Manickavasagam had made the slanderous statements related to the party’s leadership in a speech in Kapar on April 8,” he said.