DAP has filed a judicial review at the High Court seeking an order to
quash a decision by the Register of Societies (ROS) to withhold
recognition of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) which was
re-elected on Sept 29, 2013.
This re-election, in fact, was held because the ROS would not recognise the party’s first election of Dec 15, 2012.
In the application filed by DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng recently
on Jan 22, the party is also seeking for a declaration that the ROS’
decision is invalid under the law. The matter is fixed for hearing
before High Court judge Zaleha Yusof on March 11.
“We say ROS
did not have the power under the Societies Act to withhold recognition
of a lawfully elected CEC,” said DAP’s legal bureau chairman and Puchong
MP Gobind Singh Deo earlier this week.
The reason that the ROS
is withholding recognition of DAP’s CEC is because of more than a dozen
complaint letters which the party’s own members and leaders sent to the
ROS.
The complaints that the ROS received are as follows:
1. Inadequate notice period (which should have been 10 weeks, as what DAP chairman Karpal Singh himself admitted).
2. The 851 delegates who were absent or not invited to the re-election
when they were eligible to attend and vote at the meeting.
3. The 985 instead of 865 branches that were involved in the re-election.
4. The delegates’ list Dec 15, 2012 was not used, as they should have.
5. The proper notice of the meeting was not issued.
6. The election was not transparent.
7. Suspected elements of fraud.
8. Suspicious election results.
9. Manipulation of votes.
All these allegations were raised by DAP’s own members and leaders.
Playing victim
DAP’s veteran leader Lim Kit Siang should address these issues and
explain how this happened and why nothing has been done to correct these
violations in spite of repeated requests by the ROS.
DAP is
trying to play the victim in this tussle with the ROS although from the
admissions of the party’s own members and leaders, DAP is actually the
aggressor that not only violated the law but is stubbornly refusing to
correct the transgressions.
Is DAP purposely inviting action
from the ROS so that it can play the sympathy card and pretend that it
is the victim of persecution and injustice?
DAP is accusing the ROS of victimising the party.
DAP must remember that even Umno is not exempted from following the rules, as the Umno crisis of 1988 has proven.
And worse of all, DAP did not just violate the rules of the ROS, it actually violated its own party constitution.
The writer is Sabah’s deputy Umno chief and the state assembly speaker.
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