If the Registrar of Societies (RoS) decides to de-register DAP, its members have been told not to harbour hopes of setting up a new party, The Star reported today.
RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said they would not likely entertain requests for a new party.
“They can apply. But the right to approve is with the RoS. We did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years," he said.
Abdul Rahman was commenting on a plan by DAP members to set up a new party if DAP was de-registered, following complaints of election fraud in the party's central executive committee (CEC) election in December.
The director-general, when asked, said it was up to the party members to determine if the party should call for a fresh CEC election, adding that the party was now in limbo as the CEC was not recognised.
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“It is better for the party members and leaders to take the initiative to save the party rather than harbour false hopes of setting up a new one,” he added, the daily reported.
Abdul Rahman also called on delegates who claimed they did not receive meeting notices to lodge reports, noting that only a handful of members had lodged complaints alleging discrepancies.
“Keeping mum will not help make the problem go away,” he said, according to The Star.
He added that the RoS investigation was almost completed based on evidence gathered, and that a decision would be made in due time.
The RoS is investigating the alleged irregularities which cropped up when a recalculation revealed that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary Zairil Khir Johari, who had initially received 305 votes, clinched 803 votes.
Abdul Rahman also said the DAP case should not be compared with what happened to Umno in the late 1980s when the party was registered as Umno Baru following a court order banning the party, adding that while Umno’s case involved the court, the DAP case involved the RoS, the daily reported. - July 26, 2013
