Why is ROS refusing registration of new political parties?
The Registrar of Societies (ROS) or its name in Malay language, Pendaftar Pertubuhan is a department under the jurisdiction of the Home Affairs Ministry tasked to receive, review and approve the applications from various groups or parties to establish societies, associations and political parties in accordance to the Societies Act.
Asides, the right of our people to assemble and our freedom to establish associations are also enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Since 1998, it has been noticed that groups or people who are trying to establish new political parties are usually being harassed or discouraged from doing so by the ROS without whatsoever reasonable explanations. Hassles such as, provision of documents, repeated requests for amendments of the party constitutions or by-laws, missing documentations, seeking unreasonable explanations and many more had in fact prevented and discouraged various groups from coming forward to have their groups, clubs or associations registered.
The most well known struggle in 1998 came from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) which was established on that particular year, submitted their application for registration to the ROS on the same year but the party's application was kept under the desk by the ROS for some time reasoning that PSM was not supposed to get registered, it has some leftist and communist elements and there might be a threat to the national security and so on.
However, PSM decided to move on despite the blockade and threat by the ROS and the party leaders had decided to bring their grievances up to the court to settle, but during the final hearing, the High Court had dismissed the PSM's grievance and explained that the Home Affairs Minister reserve is right to withheld or reject any applications to establish a political party or association without having to provide any explanations onto the rejection.
But PSM did not give up on that matter and decided to bring the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal and only then on 19 August 2008 the chambers of the Court of Appeal has decided that it has been unlawful for the ROS from preventing a political party from being registered without whatsoever reason and therefore, instructed the ROS to quickly approve and register PSM into its book.
First of all, why did the application from the PSM to register itself was technically delayed without any concrete reasons? PSM leaders has been trying to contact officials of the ROS for solutions from 1998 till then but it seems that it was the ROS who had refused cooperation. Was it due to the fact that PSM was not a political party supporting the course of the BN government?
Let us take a look at those political parties which were formed, approved and registered by the ROS in such an express manner :
1. Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) - a breakaway Indian faction from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR);
2. Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) - a splinter party formed by a faction from Parti Gerakan;
3. Malaysian Makkal Sakhti Party (MMSP) - a splinter group from Hindraf;
4. Sarawak Workers' Party (SWP) - a splinter group from Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).
Coincidently, the splinter groups from their original parties who came out to established these new political entities had technically became BN-friendly parties. That is why these new political parties were approved and registered so quickly without any hesitation by the ROS.
Then, there are many more new political parties who had submitted their applications for registration to the ROS since their date of establishment and they are still awaiting for the approval from the later. For your information, these new political parties are neither BN nor Pakatan Rakyat-friendly. They merely wanted to present themselves as an alternative political choice for the people, other than BN or Pakatan Rakyat.
The new political parties which are still awaiting approval and registration from the ROS are as follows:
1. Human Rights Party (HRP) - established since 2009;
2. Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak Bersatu (PERSB) - established in 2010;
3. Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) - established since 2005;
4. Parti Mahasiswa Negara - established in 2008;
5. Green Party of Malaysia - established in 2012.
We would like to ask the ROS, what are their real motive of withholding or delaying the applications for registration of all these new political parties? Was the ROS delaying all these approval and registration due to some political reasons?
The ROS' delays has been quite frustrating, but despite all those continuous blockade by the ROS, the leaders of these new political parties didn't give up and they are continuing their struggle. So far, HRP had decided to bring their grievances with ROS to the court for settlement while the others are still waiting to see what are the results and they are continuing their efforts to follow up with the ROS tirelessly despite being ignored by the later.
Well, it has been very clear fact that the attempt by ROS to prevent all these new political parties from coming into existence, especially those who are opposing the BN government, are in contravene with the provision stated in the Federal Constitution where it is the rights of our people the assemble and to form associations. Asides, the ROS is also working against the multi-party democratic system by trying to prevent these new political parties from emerging.
Whenever the ROS was asked about the status of these new political parties, they will always past the buck to the ministry citing that the Minister has yet to give his note for the approval of these new political parties. Other reasons given by the ROS, are there were some concerns related to national security, the party is not relevant and too heavily race-based. All these explanations and reasons are mere blatant negative excuses aimed to undermined the rights of our people.
The other question, is BN afraid that more opposition parties might emerge in the near future? Why are they giving instant or express approvals to MIUP, PCM, MMSP and SWP without any hesitation? Yes, some officers in the ROS did respond that there were instructions from "pihak atasan" that these political parties must be approved as soon as possible. So, the true fact had shown that the ROS is working closely, hand in had with the BN elites on deciding which political party should allowed into the field and which are the ones that are supposed to be disallowed.
We all should know by now, that who is working so hard up there to curb our freedom, human rights, democracy and the multi-party system.
Asides, the right of our people to assemble and our freedom to establish associations are also enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Since 1998, it has been noticed that groups or people who are trying to establish new political parties are usually being harassed or discouraged from doing so by the ROS without whatsoever reasonable explanations. Hassles such as, provision of documents, repeated requests for amendments of the party constitutions or by-laws, missing documentations, seeking unreasonable explanations and many more had in fact prevented and discouraged various groups from coming forward to have their groups, clubs or associations registered.
The most well known struggle in 1998 came from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) which was established on that particular year, submitted their application for registration to the ROS on the same year but the party's application was kept under the desk by the ROS for some time reasoning that PSM was not supposed to get registered, it has some leftist and communist elements and there might be a threat to the national security and so on.
However, PSM decided to move on despite the blockade and threat by the ROS and the party leaders had decided to bring their grievances up to the court to settle, but during the final hearing, the High Court had dismissed the PSM's grievance and explained that the Home Affairs Minister reserve is right to withheld or reject any applications to establish a political party or association without having to provide any explanations onto the rejection.
But PSM did not give up on that matter and decided to bring the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal and only then on 19 August 2008 the chambers of the Court of Appeal has decided that it has been unlawful for the ROS from preventing a political party from being registered without whatsoever reason and therefore, instructed the ROS to quickly approve and register PSM into its book.
First of all, why did the application from the PSM to register itself was technically delayed without any concrete reasons? PSM leaders has been trying to contact officials of the ROS for solutions from 1998 till then but it seems that it was the ROS who had refused cooperation. Was it due to the fact that PSM was not a political party supporting the course of the BN government?
Let us take a look at those political parties which were formed, approved and registered by the ROS in such an express manner :
1. Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) - a breakaway Indian faction from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR);
2. Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) - a splinter party formed by a faction from Parti Gerakan;
3. Malaysian Makkal Sakhti Party (MMSP) - a splinter group from Hindraf;
4. Sarawak Workers' Party (SWP) - a splinter group from Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).
Coincidently, the splinter groups from their original parties who came out to established these new political entities had technically became BN-friendly parties. That is why these new political parties were approved and registered so quickly without any hesitation by the ROS.
Then, there are many more new political parties who had submitted their applications for registration to the ROS since their date of establishment and they are still awaiting for the approval from the later. For your information, these new political parties are neither BN nor Pakatan Rakyat-friendly. They merely wanted to present themselves as an alternative political choice for the people, other than BN or Pakatan Rakyat.
The new political parties which are still awaiting approval and registration from the ROS are as follows:
1. Human Rights Party (HRP) - established since 2009;
2. Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak Bersatu (PERSB) - established in 2010;
3. Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) - established since 2005;
4. Parti Mahasiswa Negara - established in 2008;
5. Green Party of Malaysia - established in 2012.
We would like to ask the ROS, what are their real motive of withholding or delaying the applications for registration of all these new political parties? Was the ROS delaying all these approval and registration due to some political reasons?
The ROS' delays has been quite frustrating, but despite all those continuous blockade by the ROS, the leaders of these new political parties didn't give up and they are continuing their struggle. So far, HRP had decided to bring their grievances with ROS to the court for settlement while the others are still waiting to see what are the results and they are continuing their efforts to follow up with the ROS tirelessly despite being ignored by the later.
Well, it has been very clear fact that the attempt by ROS to prevent all these new political parties from coming into existence, especially those who are opposing the BN government, are in contravene with the provision stated in the Federal Constitution where it is the rights of our people the assemble and to form associations. Asides, the ROS is also working against the multi-party democratic system by trying to prevent these new political parties from emerging.
Whenever the ROS was asked about the status of these new political parties, they will always past the buck to the ministry citing that the Minister has yet to give his note for the approval of these new political parties. Other reasons given by the ROS, are there were some concerns related to national security, the party is not relevant and too heavily race-based. All these explanations and reasons are mere blatant negative excuses aimed to undermined the rights of our people.
The other question, is BN afraid that more opposition parties might emerge in the near future? Why are they giving instant or express approvals to MIUP, PCM, MMSP and SWP without any hesitation? Yes, some officers in the ROS did respond that there were instructions from "pihak atasan" that these political parties must be approved as soon as possible. So, the true fact had shown that the ROS is working closely, hand in had with the BN elites on deciding which political party should allowed into the field and which are the ones that are supposed to be disallowed.
We all should know by now, that who is working so hard up there to curb our freedom, human rights, democracy and the multi-party system.
