KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused the Registrar of Societies (RoS) of rejecting his party’s registration application for political reasons.
In a press conference today, Dr Mahathir insisted Pejuang met all the requirements for registration and amended its proposed constitution according to the specifications set by the RoS.
“I would like to clarify here that verbally, RoS has stated that it (party registration) could be approved but they have to refer to the minister.
“According to the law, RoS has the right to reject or register (a party) but RoS said they need to refer to the minister.
“This means that even from the administration process, it has become a political matter because they had to overstep on established rules and regulation. Why the need to refer to the minister, it is not a must under the law?’’ said Dr Mahathir.
The RoS comes under the purview of the Home Ministry, the current home minister is Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
Dr Mahathir reiterated that Pejuang followed all the necessary steps and waited months for a formal response from the RoS.
He contrasted this to the registration of the Perikatan Nasional coalition that included Hamzah’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia party. Hamzah is also the secretary-general of PN.
“I would like to remind all that Pejuang was not able to get registered but Perikatan Nasional was registered within seven days, with ease,’’ he said.
Earlier in the press conference, Pejuang establishment committee secretary-general Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said the RoS rejected the application under Section 7(3)(d) of the Societies Act 1966 (Act 335) and for not being in order.
“We have reviewed the Act and the relevant section and we are of the view that we have fulfilled all the necessary requirements and even talked to the RoS and they had even suggested several changes in our constitution.
“We followed through and did the changes and resubmitted to RoS but this is the result that we get,’’ he said.
Separately, the Malaysia United Democratic Alliance (Muda) party also announced that its own registration bid has been rejected.
Muda is headed by former minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who was Dr Mahathir’s Youth wing chief when the two had still been in Bersatu.
