PETALING JAYA: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today said that all aspects of Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) administration and management were handled in accordance with its constitution, in response to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin’s claim that PN's deregistration stemmed from its leaders' failure to act constitutionally and in accordance with the law.
Hadi said relations between PN’s component parties were strong, except for one party that had "distanced itself and changed direction" – an apparent reference to former ally Bersatu.
He said the deregistration appeared to pre-empt a court decision regarding PN, restrict the coalition’s democratic rights and reflect the government’s mounting fear.
"All further moves, including preparations for the Melaka state election and a court challenge to the decision, will be made together with like-minded PN component parties," he said in a statement.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin said the deregistration was a reminder for coalition leaders to lead fairly and not abuse their power or positions.
The Registrar of Societies (RoS) said it decided to deregister PN after finding that the coalition’s Oct 12 response to a show-cause notice dated Sept 22 failed to rebut the grounds for deregistration. However, it did not disclose those grounds or PN's arguments.
The RoS acted on a complaint by Bersatu, which alleged that the party was denied the right to attend, speak and vote at a PN Supreme Council meeting on July 16.
PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar questioned the timing of the decision, given that PN's earlier application to stay the suspension of its activities had yet to be heard in court.
PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan then said the coalition would challenge the deregistration and seek a stay of its implementation.