DAP gave in to avoid RoS abuse, says Pua
The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise “abuse” its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today.
Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC).
“Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party’s lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to ‘punish’ a party with fresh leadership elections.
“But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances.
The PJ Utara rep (picture) said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court – regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so.
“If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has – that is to de-register a political party – if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary,” Pua said in a statement.
Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS’s insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday.
In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP’s case.
Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had “unjustifiably failed” to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that “some members were not satisfied” with the recent party polls.
“The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision.
“We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give ‘justification’ to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP.
“The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his ‘political transformation programme’,” Pua said.
On January 4, Lim revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections that 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.
The party had until today refused to comply with the RoS directive, saying it did not justify its order beyond saying it was “dissatisfied” with the party’s explanations.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf
(The Malay Mail) – The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise “abuse” its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today.
Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC).
“Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party’s lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to ‘punish’ a party with fresh leadership elections.
“But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances.
The PJ Utara rep said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court – regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so.
“If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has – that is to de-register a political party – if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary,” Pua said in a statement.
Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS’s insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday.
In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP’s case.
Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had “unjustifiably failed” to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that “some members were not satisfied” with the recent party polls.
“The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision.
“We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give ‘justification’ to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP.
“The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his ‘political transformation programme’,” Pua said.
Read more here: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf
The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise “abuse” its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today.
Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC).
“Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party’s lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to ‘punish’ a party with fresh leadership elections.
“But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances.
The PJ Utara rep (picture) said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court – regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so.
“If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has – that is to de-register a political party – if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary,” Pua said in a statement.
Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS’s insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday.
In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP’s case.
Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had “unjustifiably failed” to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that “some members were not satisfied” with the recent party polls.
“The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision.
“We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give ‘justification’ to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP.
“The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his ‘political transformation programme’,” Pua said.
On January 4, Lim revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections that 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.
The party had until today refused to comply with the RoS directive, saying it did not justify its order beyond saying it was “dissatisfied” with the party’s explanations.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf
