KUCHING, Sept 28 — Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru’s (PBDSB) registration has been cancelled after the previous committees failed to submit the party’s annual returns for the years 2014 to 2017, secretary-general Julius Enchana told reporters today.

He said the cancellation took effect June 12 as a show-cause letter from the Registrar of Societies sent last November was not answered.

"We, the present supreme council committee, are caught unaware that the previous supreme council did not submit the annual returns for the years 2014 to 2017,” he said.

"We are also caught unaware that the RoS had issued a show-cause letter to the party, followed by the cancellation of the registration,” he said.

"We came to know of the show-cause letter and the cancellation of the registration after we submitted our annual returns following our general meeting on June 18, 2019,” he added.

Enchana said the show-cause letter was addressed to the previous president, deputy president, secretary-general and the party headquarters registered office in Stabau, Sri Aman.

He said their names were still registered with the RoS as it has not been informed of the changes in the office bearers.

He said the former president and other previous top officials failed to inform the present party officials regarding the show-cause letter and the cancellation of registration letter.

He added a RoS officer called him and other present top party officials including president Bobby anak William to go to RoS headquarters in Putrajaya regarding PBDSB’s registration.

"He was shocked that we were still active after the cancellation and we were shocked that our party been cancelled without our knowledge,” Enchana.

He said at the meeting on September 23, 2019 the officer handed to them copies of the show-cause letter and the cancellation of registration letter.

"The officer advised us to appeal to Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to withdraw the cancellation of the registration,” Enchana said, adding that a letter of appeal has already been submitted to the minister.

"He told us if we have replied to the show-cause letter earlier before the cancellation letter, registration would not have been cancelled,” he said, adding that the cancellation was done under Section 13(1) (c) (iv) of the Societies Act 1966 for wilfully contravened any provision of the Act.

Lawyer Dominique Ng Kim Ho, the party’s adviser, said he believed that the registration of PBDSB would be restored since they have communicated with the relevant officers from RoS and the home ministry.

He said he did not consider PBDSB a threat to national security that merited deregistration.

He said PBDBS has been very active in fighting for and defending the rights of the native customary rights (NCR) landowners.

"Its fight is not based on race or religion, unlike other parties in the peninsula,” he said, hoping the minister would use Section 18 of the Act to restore back the registration.