KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin has reportedly said the federal government does not plan to appeal against the High Court’s orders last week for the youth-based party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) to be registered as a political party.
Local daily Berita Harian today reported Hamzah as saying that the government had — following discussions with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob — decided against appealing the High Court’s decision.
Hamzah reportedly said that Muda can be registered as a political party once all documents are resolved.
On December 14 (last Tuesday), the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled in favour of Muda, which had been seeking for the government to register it as a political party since September 2020.
High Court judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin had granted two court orders, including an order to compel both the home minister and the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to register Muda as a political party within 14 days from the date of the December 14 court order.
Muda’s pro-tem vice-president Lim Wei Jiet had previously confirmed to Malay Mail that the two-week period involves 14 calendar days, and which means that the home minister and RoS would have to comply with the court order by December 28.
“It starts counting from 15th. So he must do it latest by 28th December,” Lim had told Malay Mail last week.
Today, Lim confirmed that there has so far been “no communication from Minister and RoS since the High Court decision.”
Asked for a response to the news report today of the government’s decision to not appeal the High Court orders, Lim said: “This is a correct decision. We hope the Minister and RoS will abide by the Court's decision to register Muda soon.
“On behalf of the founders of Muda, we wish to thank all supporters for the support so far, even in the darkest of times when we did not have a party. But you all kept the flame alive, and we hope this decision will spur supporters to contribute more to the community,” he added.
The December 14 court decision was a long-awaited and crucial victory for Muda in its long journey since September 2020 to have the RoS register it as a political party.
Along the way, Muda had to wait for months for decisions from RoS and the home minister on whether its application or appeal to be registered would be allowed, and even had to file three lawsuits.
Muda’s efforts to be officially registered with the RoS as a political party is important, as such status is required for the party’s candidates to be able to contest in elections under its own name and party logo.
While Muda has yet to be officially recognised as a political party by the federal government, the youth-based party has already repeatedly shown its capability in raising funds for charity and welfare aid for Malaysians in need, including previously for those in Semporna, Sabah and Johor and also back in October 2020 when it collected the targeted RM50,000 in just three hours to help stranded university students.
In the latest charity effort, Muda managed to raise over RM1 million in just 100 hours to help victims of the massive floods over the past few days, and had also deployed volunteers including its own pro-tem president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to help in flood relief and rescue efforts.
