KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Registrar of Societies Malaysia (RoS) has filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision allowing Perikatan Nasional (PN) to suspend action by RoS to deregister the political coalition.
According to documents obtained by the media, Federal Counsel representing RoS director-general Datuk Mohd Zulfikar Ahmad and Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail filed the notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal today, following their dissatisfaction with the decision delivered by High Court Judge Datuk Azizan Md Arshad yesterday.
Judge Azizan also allowed PN’s application to stay the implementation of RoS’ notice suspending all activities of the political coalition pending the court’s decision on its application for judicial review.
The decision paves the way for PN to contest the Melaka state election, scheduled for Nov 14.
Meanwhile, lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, representing the coalition, confirmed the filing of the notice of appeal.
On Oct 13, the court dismissed PN’s application for an interim stay of the RoS suspension notice but granted the political coalition leave to initiate judicial review proceedings.
The judicial review application was filed on Oct 5 by PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, together with Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) secretary-general Wong Chia Zhen, Malaysian Indian People Party (MIPP) secretary-general N. Sathes Kumar, Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah and Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang) secretary-general Datuk Sazmi Miah, named as the first to fifth applicants respectively.
RoS had earlier issued an order suspending all PN activities with effect from Sept 23. According to an RoS statement, the action was taken under Subsection 13(2A) of the Societies Act 1966, following a notice issued to PN on Sept 22.
In their application, the applicants claimed that the suspension prevented them from carrying out their political activities as usual, including using the coalition’s name and symbol to contest the 16th Melaka state election.
Among other things, the applicants sought a certiorari order to quash the suspension order and the notice proposing PN’s deregistration.
On Oct 20, RoS deregistered PN under subparagraph 13(1)(c)(iv) of the Societies Act 1966 after finding that the coalition’s explanation had failed to rebut the grounds for deregistration set out in the notice dated Sept 22. — Bernama