PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional will seek an urgent High Court order today to stay three decisions by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) affecting the coalition’s ability to operate.
Perikatan’s lawyer Ivanpal Singh Grewal said the three decisions involved a notice to cancel the coalition’s registration, a suspension order dated Sept 23 and a cancellation order on Tuesday.
He said that any delay could jeopardise the coalition’s ability to operate.
“We have to stay all three because if we (only) stay the cancellation order, we still remain suspended and we cannot operate, so we need to make sure that everything is stayed,” he said when contacted.
He said Perikatan would push for a decision the same day.
“Any delay is prejudicial to us. Perikatan has been deregistered, and theoretically another party can then decide to register Perikatan on their own,” he said.
Ivanpal said Perikatan was also considering an appeal to the Home Minister within the 30-day window but would wait for the court’s decision first.
Prior to this, Perikatan had gone to court to quash the notices, and the High Court had set today to hear further arguments from both parties.
Commenting on the situation, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said the ROS had acted on a complaint by Bersatu, a Perikatan component party, and it could not blame its political rivals.
The senior lawyer said a similar situation arose in 2018, when he was involved in Bersatu’s challenge against its suspension and that ROS had subsequently deregistered the party, forcing it to withdraw the case and file a fresh one.
He noted that Pakatan Harapan, which was not allowed to register as a coalition at the time, went on to contest the 14th general election under PKR’s logo and won.
He said Perikatan’s component parties should decide whether to carry on as an unregistered coalition and which party’s logo to use and announce the decision.
“You must be brave to tell the public,” he said.
PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim, a lawyer, said Perikatan had the right to seek a judicial review and called for the Societies Act 1966 to be amended “to curtail abuse of power” by the Executive in controlling the ROS.
Constitutional lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said that a legal challenge may become academic once an authority has arrived at a definitive decision.
He said that under the Act, an appeal to the Home Minister would have to be exhausted first.
He said Perikatan could contest the Melaka polls under its own logo if it obtained a court order to stay the deregistration.
Lim said the deregistration did not affect the component parties.
“Practically, the deregistration merely means they cannot contest under the (Perikatan) logo. They can still contest under their respective parties’ logos,” he said.
