By Shannon Teoh | May 19, 2011 The Malaysian Insider
PETALING JAYA, May 19 — PKR is facing de-registration after receiving a show-cause letter from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) alleging the party had violated its constitution.
The RoS said in its letter that PKR had sacked a member without the matter being heard by the party’s disciplinary board.
But the party said today that the clause in question did not exist in its constitution, and accused the RoS of acting in bad faith ahead of a general election that PKR said could be called as early as July. The letter sent by Registrar Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman on May 9 said that PKR had “wilfully violated Clause 32.2.1 of the party constitution by sacking Rajagopal A/L Andaikkalam on 01/04/2009 and 27/04/2009 without first being investigated and heard by the disciplinary board”.
Abdul Rahman, citing Section 13 (2) of the Societies Act, said the RoS would deregister the party after June 9 unless it was given satisfactory reasons otherwise.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution told a press conference today that Clause 32 had no subsections, and did not pertain to disciplinary procedures.
“All it says is that if there is any dispute in the interpretation of the constitution or matters relating to the national congress, the supreme council’s interpretation will be taken as final,” Saifuddin, who is Machang MP, said.
“The RoS had to approve our constitution, so they have a copy of it, but now they cite a clause that does not even exist,” he said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is widely expected to call elections within the year. His Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition will be holding a dry run after Umno’s party polls in July.
But some people have speculated that the election will be held then.
Saifuddin today said that the RoS had also made several mistakes in the letter, as the member the party had sacked was named A. Jayagopal, and he was sacked on April 26, 2009.
He said Jayagopal was sacked for contesting in the Bukit Selambau by-election as an independent against PKR candidate S. Manikumar, who won the seat in voting on April 7, 2009.
“We had released a memo on March 11 that year that any member contesting against a candidate endorsed by the party would be sacked,” he said.
Political bureau member R. Sivarasa said the registrar had acted in bad faith as Section 13 of the Societies Act said “if the Registrar is satisfied”.
“The letter says we wilfully broke the rules by sacking a person (who) does not exist on a date where no such thing happened,” Subang MP Sivarasa, a lawyer, said. “How can the RoS say it is satisfied to use its power?”
Sivarasa said the act was “stupid and frivolous but with serious implications ahead of the general elections”, and the party saw “the fingerprints and signature of Barisan Nasional” behind the move.
He said there was no need to bring Jayagopal before the disciplinary board as “he was contesting against the party in a by-election. It is a public and undeniable fact.
“No party in the world will allow such a thing.”
Saifuddin today sent a reply to the RoS, as secretary-general of the party.
“We have no choice but to conclude that your action is politically motivated, in bad faith and aimed to stop PKR from taking part in the coming general election,” he wrote in the letter.
PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang told reporters that this was the latest in a spate of recent attacks against the party, referring to sex video allegations against de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and text messages threatening to kidnap his granddaughter.
“These are not isolated,” Chua said. “This is not just a mistake by an officer. These plans come from the very top, and the home minister and prime minister must answer if there is a plot to marginalise opposition parties.”
The Malaysian Insider understands that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is likely to delay snap polls until the end of this year or early 2012 as his party hunts for funds to finance a campaign to court Bumiputera and Indian voters and secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
It is believed Umno’s coffers were depleted after BN spent some RM500 million for the April 16 Sarawak election.
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, however, told The Malaysian Insider that he believed Umno’s increasingly ultra-Malay stance as well as the emergence of a sex video aimed at discrediting PR’s image were definite signs that general elections would be called by August.
But BN insiders say Najib is cautious about calling elections so soon as he wants to regain the coalition’s two-thirds parliamentary majority, which now appears impossible with the Chinese snub continuing in the Sarawak election.
Chinese-based MCA took a battering in the historic 2008 general election — which also robbed BN of its customary two-thirds majority — when the party won only 15 out of 40 parliamentary seats it contested.