Butt out, Jeffrey tells Putrajaya

History and federal-run ROS’ recent decisions in regards to SUPP and LDP show that it is vital that Sarawak and Sabah reclaim authority.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah STAR has called for an end to the meddling by peninsula leaders in Sabah and Sarawak and wants, as a first step, the restoration of  autonomy of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) in the Borneon states.

Party chairman Jeffrey Kitingan said ROS, in Sabah and Sarawak, is presently controlled by federal leaders in the peninsula this is against the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement.

“The decision of the federal Registrar of Societies (ROS) in Putrajaya on Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) shows the need for Sabah and Sarawak governments and their people to re-assess the de-merger of the Sabah and Sarawak arm of the ROS,” he said.

He was commenting on the decision of ROS to de-register two branches of SUPP in Sarawak and the registrar’s power to dictate who would be the LDP president when rival factions claimed to be in control of the party.

He noted that prior to the abolishment of the posts of Sabah and Sarawak ROS, the position was under the jurisdiction of their respective governments and governed by their respective laws.

However, this power was revoked when the Societies Act, 1966 was extended to Sabah and Sarawak.

“In a single move, this resulted in the loss of autonomy of political parties in Sabah and Sarawak as the power now rests with the federal ROS and the Home Minister in Putrajaya.

“This was when the meddling of the political parties in Sabah and Sarawak began,” Kitingan said in a statement.

“PBDS and SNAP who were then parties of strength in Sarawak were de-registered by the federal ROS to split the natives.”

“In Sabah, PDS (now Upko) and SAPP were approved, at the speed of lightning in ROS terms,” said Kitingan noting that the registration of new parties that normally takes years to approve, was given the nod in a matter of days, paving the way for these parties to be admitted into the BN coalition and topple the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) government which was then in power in Sabah.

Umno controls ROS

He said the link between the ROS and federal leaders in Umno was proven when Umno was allowed into Sabah to replace Usno.

Since then, efforts to revive Usno or even register a Kelab Usno as an NGO appeared to have been rejected and has been seized by critics as a broken promise by federal leaders made prior to the general elections in 2008.

Like Kitingan,  they alleged the failure of the ROS to approve their application gives credence to claims that the federal government is duplicitous in its dealings with the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

Further evidence of federal meddling in Sabah and Sarawak politics through the ROS, Kitingan pointed out, was the refusal to approve any new political party in the run up to the general election last year when the BN’s chances of electoral victory was uncertain.

He said the ROS  about-turn on the issue after the elections and approval of a total of 20 new political parties, 11 of which are based in Sabah, raised even more suspicions of political manipulations in the two states by the BN federal government due to dwindling support.

Kitingan also queried how the ROS could disallow the re-registration of SNAP and Usno, who were instrumental in the formation of Malaysia in 1963, when it could de-register Umno and then allow a faction within it to re-registered the party as Umno Baru and later even drop the second part of its name.