SO INEFFICIENT! RoS confirms DAP papers in hand, apologises for 'mistake'

KUALA LUMPUR — The Registrar of Societies (RoS) confirmed today the DAP had sent in its central executive committee (CEC) polls report as requested ahead of the February 15 deadline and apologised for its mistake that had led to criticism of the opposition party.

Registrar Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman clarified he had received the DAP document on February 8, a week before the 60-day deadline for the annual report required of all registered societies in the country.

"Here I would like to clarify that my previous statement was based on information that was not updated and this has led to confusion," he was reported as saying by The Star Online, based on a statement sent out after the upset DAP sent out copies of its letter to the RoS bearing the societies regulator's stamp as proof of receipt, and dated February 8.

"RoS apologises to all parties concerned over this mistake," Abdul Rahman added.

The registrar was reported to have questioned if the opposition party was challenging the RoS' authority or if was hiding something by delaying submitting the required documents over its party polls last December.

"Everyone knows the DAP had held a meeting and an election for its CEC. The DAP also know they must send a report and the thing is not that hard to do.

"This is nothing new. It is not as if the DAP has never held a meeting and election before. But why is it so difficult for them to send in a report this time?" he told Malay broadsheet Mingguan Malaysia, which published the news today.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein had yesterday reportedly said the RoS should start taking action against the DAP to submit the annual report on time.

He said the DAP was supposed to submit its report within 60 days after its CEC polls on December 12, which put the deadline at February 15.

"This is no different from Umno which was banned before. We'll follow the existing law.

"We wait for the deadline and it was yesterday. RoS will take the necessary action," Hishammuddin was quoted as saying yesterday by state news agency Bernama.

Abdul Rahman also said RoS was nearly done investigating the controversy surrounding the DAP's party polls.

-themalaysianinsider.com