PUTRAJAYA, 19 Apr: Why did the Registrar of Societies (ROS) not impose any action against Umno but plans to take action against DAP as the 13th General Election approaches?
This is because Umno can be declared as an illegal party because almost 75 percent of the dozens of Umno branches throughout Malaysia have never been re-registered with the ROS since the party was banned in February 1988.
PAS Vice-President, Datuk Husam Musa said that although Malaysians have filed a petition to the Jalan Duta High Court asking the ROS to take action against Umno, why is it that only DAP is being investigated.
“Last Tuesday, a petition was filed by a number of Malaysians at the Jalan Duta High Court asking the ROS to act against Umno.
“This is because Umno is actually an illegal organisation.
“According to the Societies Act 1966, when any branch of a party is not registered, the organisation itself becomes illegal and the ROS is required to act,” he said in a press conference at the Putrajaya PAS operations room today.
Husam said this in response to the decision of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on 17 April, to not recognise the new DAP executive committee.
The decision has affected the ability of DAP to engage candidates in the 13th General Election (GE-13).
Previously, the Chief Coordinator of Youth Solidarity Malaysia (SAMM), Badrul Hisham Shahrin revealed that as many as 2, 181 Umno branches in Kelantan, including those in Tanah Merah, Jeli, Bachok, Tumpat and Kota Bharu, are illegal.
According to Badrul Hisham, through the court process, a total of 126 Umno branches in Tanah Merah were found to be branches not registered with the ROS.
However, the Tanah Merah Umno continued to meet with representatives of illegal Umno branches (126 branches) and representation from the illegal meeting sent a representative to the Umno General Assembly that year (2008).
Husam said that PAS would welcome it if DAP wants to use its logo for the GE-13 and this indirectly signifies an understanding and unity in Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
“We very much welcome it, subject to DAP’s option strategy.
“They can use the PAS or PKR logo and this symbolises unity in Pakatan,” he said, also a PAS candidate for the Putrajaya Parliamentary seat.