I have said that “Father Augustus Chen” whose booklet “The Equity Report (CEC Election Fraud)” is used as authority by Umno/BN leaders and the Registrar of Societies to invalidate the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections last December is a fictitious figure and a total figment of imagination of the Umno/BN “war-room psy-war” campaign against the DAP before and after the 13th General Elections.

Today there is further confirmation that the lies and falsehoods about election irregularities in the DAP CEC elections last year has become fodder in the upcoming UMNO party elections when Utusan Malaysia reported that the UMNO MP for Kuala Pilah and Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Datuk Hasan Malek has confirmed that he would be contesting for the UMNO Supreme Council elections in October this year.

It was Hasan Malek who over the weekend quoted the fictitious figure “Father Augustus Chen” as authority for the decision by the Registrar of Societies director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman directing the DAP to hold CEC re-election.

Two dubious records are set here –firstly, it is the first time in the 56-year history of public law in Malaysia where Cabinet Ministers and public officials are depending on a fictitious character to justify their decision, and secondly, relying on a scurrilous publication which is no different from a “poison pen letter” which is published against the law as it does not carry the required identity of the printer and publisher.

Yet this “poison-pen” booklet, published by a fictitious character, was given high profile in the Umno-BN controlled media, after a lot of funds and resources were invested in it, with its publication in four languages in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil, and distributed in huge quantities for free and general distribution.

Are Cabinet Ministers like Hasan Malek and the Registar of Societies director-general prepared to vouch that “Father Augustus Chen” exists and is not a phantom created by the Umno-BN “war-room psy-war” campaign against the DAP?

Let us give the fictitious “Father Augustus Chen” seven days to surface and prove he is not a phantom – failing which, would the Registrar of Societies reconsider his decision on DAP CEC re-election?

I myself would not mind CEC re-election to be held as it would expose the lies and falsehoods about election irregularities and fraud in the CEC election last December, but an important principle of public law is involved here, that the Registrar of Societies must have valid and reasonable grounds before directing a political party to hold party re-elections.

UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC will be holding party elections in the next few months.

Is the RoS claiming that he would have the power to direct UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC to hold party re-elections based on complaints made to the RoS and never forwarded to the political party concerned, and without giving acceptable and reasonable grounds for ordering party elections?