Registrar of Societies disregarding the law, says DAP

by Diyana Ibrahim
The Malaysian Insider
September 24, 2013

DAP has criticised the Registrar of Societies (RoS) for accusing the party of not conducting its central executive committee re-election according to party constitution.

DAP’s legal head Gobind Singh Deo said RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman Abdul Rahman had repeatedly accused the party of wrongdoings before hearing explanations given by party leaders.

“Abdul Rahman should know. If there are complaints, he needs to inform us and ask for an explanation before making a decision,” DAP’s legal head Gobind Singh Deo said in a statement today.

“This raises questions because I would like to know if he follows this procedure. If not, why? And what is his power to make decisions in such a manner?” he added.

According to Gobind, the latest accusation showed RoS’s disrespect of the law.

“I would advise Abdul Rahman to be careful. As the head of a department, he must understand and respect the legal process. Whether or not the CEC re-election can be done through a Special Congress, this we will address in court tomorrow,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said yesterday that the RoS was trying to ensure justice for all DAP members by urging it to hold the re-election.

“As regulators, we are working on the principle of the Societies Act and not to victimise any organisations,” he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.

The High Court will hear an injunction tomorrow by former Ladang Paroi DAP branch vice-chairman A. David Dass, to stop the party from holding the CEC re-election during a special congress scheduled for September 29, 2013.

The RoS had, on July 30, ordered DAP to hold a re-election for its CEC, saying it was not satisfied with the party’s explanation that there was a “technical glitch” in the previous election held last December. This followed allegations that there were manipulated votes involving 547 delegates.

DAP had initially defied RoS’s order but later agreed to hold a fresh CEC election.

On August 19 the party’s national organising secretary Anthony Loke claimed that more than 500 delegates had presented letters to the DAP headquarters to explain that they had received the notice for election but were unable to attend.– 24 September, 2013.