The Malaysian Insight

THERE is still no development on Pakatan Harapan’s application to register as an official coalition, chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

The former prime minister said the opposition pact had planned to meet the home minister, who is in charge of the Registrar Societies (RoS), in parliament today but the minister was not present.

RoS is a department under the Home Ministry, overseeing the affairs of non-governmental groups, societies and political parties.

“So far, we haven’t received any response from the RoS. There is no rejection or approval, or anything,” he told reporters in Parliament today.

The Malaysian Insight yesterday reported that the PH leadership was concerned that RoS was delaying the registration of the opposition coalition despite fulfilling all the conditions.

PH applied for registration to the RoS on July 24.

“We want to know whether our application is approved or not. If there is any objection, we are ready to follow the requirements set by RoS,” Dr Mahathir said, adding that the feedback by RoS would help the opposition coalition to know if their application had fulfilled requirements.

PH leaders had questioned RoS’ delay in registering the opposition coalition, which comprises  Bersatu, PKR, Amanah and DAP, causing them to wait almost 100 days.

In an oral reply in Dewan Rakyat on October 23, the Home Ministry said RoS was responsible for vetting every political party’s application to safeguard the security of the country and public interest.

The ministry, however, said that there were no additional terms and criteria required but the application was still under consideration.

In another development, Dr Mahathir said Bersatu has yet to hold an annual general meeting (AGM) due to the incomplete structure of the party, especially at the branch level.

“At the moment we haven’t organised the party completely, because to hold an AGM, we need to have meetings at the branch level, then division and after that you can have the AGM.

“At the branch level, although there are members but they haven’t been organised into branches, even some divisions are not properly organised yet. So we can’t determine who will attend the meeting,”he said, denying that the party doesn’t have the number to hold an AGM.

“In any case, the provision of the party’s constitution says that the party can postpone AGM to another date. Of course we have to comply with the position of the constitution but at the same time we have to take into consideration the organisation of the party,” he said. – November 15, 2017.