PUTRAJAYA (Oct 5): Perikatan Nasional on Monday filed a legal challenge against its suspension and potential deregistration by the Registrar of Societies (RoS), and is seeking an expedited hearing to resolve the matter before the Melaka election.
PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the coalition wants to quash notices issued by RoS under Sections 13(2) and 13(2A) of the Societies Act 1966.
Section 13(2) requires PN to explain its actions within 30 days or be deregistered. The Section 13(2A) notice informs PN that it must suspend its activities until it has responded to the matter.
The suspension means PN cannot use its logo during the state polls.
“The only reason given [for the notice and suspension] was that we did not invite Bersatu leaders for a meeting on July 16. But the official complaint by Bersatu was never given to us,” Takiyuddin, who is also secretary-general of PAS, said at a press conference on Monday.
PN's application names RoS director-general Datuk Muhammad Zulfikar Ahmad and Home Minister Datuk Seri Datuk Sri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as respondents.
The Election Commission (EC) is expected to announce the date of the Melaka election after a meeting on Wednesday. The state polls must be held within 60 days of the Sept 23 dissolution of the Melaka assembly.
Given the urgency, Takiyuddin said the coalition has also made a filing requesting that the case be expedited.
“We want to ask the court to hear this case urgently because we need the court’s determination before the Melaka election is held,” he said.
Takiyuddin said the coalition had engaged with the EC on this matter but the final word lay with the RoS.
Asked whether PN component parties would use their own logos in the Melaka polls, Takiyuddin said: “These five parties, PAS, Wawasan, Gerakan, MIPP and Pejuang, have been negotiating that matter in view of all possibilities.”
The suspension of PN comes after PAS said on June 8 it had ended political cooperation with Bersatu, the previously the dominant party in PN. However, the now beleaguered Bersatu was never expelled from the coalition.
On Aug 11, Bersatu filed a complaint with RoS concerning its status in PN, as well as its exclusion from a PN Supreme Council meeting on July 16.
RoS sent the show-cause notice to PN on Sept 22, and the suspension order the next day as the Melaka assembly was dissolved.
Takiyuddin said PN sent a letter to RoS on Sept 24 to obtain an explanation on the notice and suspension, but has yet to receive a response.
He said Bersatu was excluded from the July 16 meeting due to the party's breaches of its own constitution earlier that week.
Takiyuddin claimed that a Bersatu Supreme Council meeting had decided to use the party logo instead of the PN logo for the Negeri Sembilan polls, but that meeting had insufficient quorum as per the party’s constitution.
He said PN feared that its deliberations would be invalid if Bersatu took part in the coalition’s supreme council meeting while in breach of its own party constitution.
In the coalition's court filing, it argues that suspension order violated procedural fairness and the rules of natural justice, as PN was neither provided with details of Bersatu’s complaint nor granted an opportunity to be heard.
PN said the suspension order impedes its ability to endorse candidates and its use of its registered name and symbol during the state election, thereby infringing upon rights under Articles 4(1), 8(1), 10(1)(a), 10(1)(c), and 119 of the Federal Constitution.
Apart from quashing the RoS notices, PN wants the regulator to furnish all complaint documents and communications related to Bersatu within three days, as well as a stay on the suspension pending the disposal of the judicial review.
Case management was fixed for Oct 13 before High Court Judge Datuk Azizan Arshad.