Muda, Pejuang turned down for not following Societies Act, says Hamzah

PUTRAJAYA: The Registrar of Societies (RoS) rejected the applications of Muda and Pejuang to be registered as political parties because they did not comply with the Societies Act 1966, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.

He added that items in the parties' proposed constitutions were unclear, questionable and contradictory.

On Jan 7, the parties had announced that their respective applications were rejected by the RoS.

Hamzah cited an example in Muda's proposed constitution that aimed to attract participation from the 15 to 40 age group.

However, he added, its membership was defined as being open to anyone 18 and above with no age limit stated.

As for Pejuang, Hamzah said the proposed constitution submitted to RoS was "poorly constructed".

"These are some of the reasons why RoS had rejected their applications.

"The two parties were given 30 days to appeal the decision," he said on Tuesday (Feb 2).

According to Hamzah, the Muda pro-tem committee had not met RoS for consultation and no appeal letter had been received.

Pejuang submitted its appeal letter to the Home Minister on Jan 8.

On Jan 7, Muda had said that they were disappointed with the ROS decision on the rejection of its application, adding that they had given their full cooperation with them to comply with all the conditions for registration.

“There is no solid reason for the ROS to reject our application, ” said the group led by former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.