No ‘DAP Baru’ if de-registered, RoS warns party
(The Malay Mail) – “It is better for the party to members and leaders to take initiative to save the party rather than false hopes of setting up a new one,” Abdul Rahman said when asked about suggestions that the DAP avoid RoS action by holding fresh polls.
The DAP could face a permanent ban as the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has said it will reject the opposition party’s application to form a new party if it is de-registered.
RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman was quoted by The Star as saying that the party should not “harbour false hopes” of forming a new party since the body had shun applications to register new parties for the past five years.
“They can apply. But the right to approve it is with the RoS. We did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years,” he said.
DAP leaders have in the past alleged a conspiracy to dissolve the party after the RoS initiated an investigation into purported irregularities in the party’s elections last year.
The party maintained innocence but refused to heed internal calls for new elections which drew accusations of a cover-up.
“It is better for the party to members and leaders to take initiative to save the party rather than false hopes of setting up a new one,” Abdul Rahman said when asked about suggestions that the DAP avoid RoS action by holding fresh polls.
The move to reject the DAP’s application to set up a new party should it be banned will likely prompt opposition leaders to cry bias by highlighting the RoS’s quick approval of Umno Baru, the new party formed by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the original Umno was declared illegal by the courts.
Commenting on this, Abdul Rahman said the two cases should not be compared.
“Umno’s case involved the court, whereas the DAP’s case involves the RoS,” he was quoted as saying.
On January 4, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng revealed that there were errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections, which he said were caused by a technical glitch when the results were transferred to a computer using the Microsoft Excel programme.
The amendments resulted in Lim’s political secretary, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th ― the last elected position in the party’s CEC.
Zairil’s votes were re-tallied at 803 compared to the 305 announced earlier.
Vincent Wu, who initially secured sixth spot with 1,202 votes, dropped to 26th as the party claimed he actually garnered only 669 votes.
Although a majority of the party’s supporters accepted the explanation, some disgruntled members later lodged complaints with the RoS, claiming that the results were manipulated.
The party has denied the allegation and said it would co-operate with the RoS investigation on the matter.
Abdul Rahman said the investigation was already in its final phase and a decision is expected soon.
