(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): The Registrar of Societies’ rejection of the application to establish Parti Socialist Malaysia (PSM) is a grave attack on the fundamental right to freedom of association which is enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
If the Registrar of Societies had been fully imbued with the spirit of the constitution, in particular Part II of the Federal Constitution on fundamental liberties, the application for the registration of Parti Socialist Malaysia would not have been rejected. The Registrar would in fact have actively assisted in its registration even if it is true that there had been incomplete information in the application.
The bottom-line is the Registrar of Societies must never become an instrument to stifle the freedom of assocation of Malaysians but the opposite - to fulfil and not to deny the fundamental right of Malaysians to freedom of association enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution so that it would not be a "paper" right without substance.
The protem chairman of PSM, Dr. Mohd. Nasir Hashim said the PSM submitted its application for registration as far back as April 30 last year, and it had been trying unsuccessfully to get subsequent information from the Registrar of Societies.
DAP calls on the Registrar of Societies to process the appeal of PSM against the rejection of its application for registration and to give approval without any further delay.
In this connection, the Registrar of Societies should explain why the application for the registration of ADIL has not been approved yet. ADIL submitted its application on Dec. 19 last year- and the processing for the approval for the registration of any society should not take more than two weeks.
It is well-known history that the Registrar of Societies took minutes to approve the application for the establishment of UMNO Baru in 1988 after UMNO was deregistered following a legal suit - which makes it completely unacceptable that there is still no word about ADIL’s approval after nearly two months.
(11/2/99)