The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) will not appeal today's court dismissal of its legal bid as it has decided to appeal directly to Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin to be officially registered as a political party.
However, the fledgeling group is keeping the option of going to court again, depending on the minister's response to its appeal.
Lim Wei Jiet, a member of Muda, told Malaysiakini after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed the group's judicial review leave application to compel the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to officially register it as a political party.
In her ruling today, judge Mariana Yahya said Muda should have first exhausted the available venue under the Societies Act 1966 before going to court, namely to appeal to the minister in regard to ROS' Jan 6 rejection of the group's registration application.
"No, since we are appealing to the (home) minister," Lim said on whether Muda would appeal against the court's decision.
"Depending on the minister's decision, we will see if filing another court case is required," the lawyer added.
In a media statement earlier today, Muda's legal team said it respects the court's ruling and has advised the group's members to file the appeal to the minister to be registered as a political party.
"In order to safeguard Muda's legal rights and due to time sensitivity, we have advised Muda's sponsors to take the step of filing an appeal to the home minister concerning the ROS decision. This will be done by Muda's sponsors in the immediate future.
"May the home minister be able to make an equitable decision in this case as much as possible, in light of the party registration (application) having been done since September 2020," the legal team said.
They also reiterated that today's court decision made no finding on the merits of Muda's case against the ROS.
Besides Lim, the other 12 judicial review leave applicants include former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The judicial review leave application had listed the ROS and the minister (who is not named) as the two respondents in the matter.
Muda's legal bid targets the ROS for rejecting its registration application via an email sent on Jan 6.
It was reported that among the reasons for Muda seeking the judicial review was an allegation that the home minister had asked Syed Saddiq to "commit" himself to the prime minister.
In an affidavit in support of the judicial review leave application, the Muar MP claimed that the minister sought this from him (Syed Saddiq) when he asked about the registration status of Muda.
The former Bersatu member pointed to an alleged communication between him and the minister on Dec 13 last year, concerning the then status of Muda's application to be registered.
Syed Saddiq also alleged that the ROS' willful refusal to register Muda would deprive voters of another choice of a political party to vote for.
He claimed this is particularly so against the background of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government having a slim majority in Parliament, which purportedly signals an impending 15th general election.
The applicants from Muda were seeking a court order to quash the ROS' Jan 6 decision which refused to register Muda as a society under the political party category as per Section 7 of the Societies Act.
Besides Syed Saddiq and Lim, the other applicants are former Suaram project coordinator Amir Hariri Abdul Hadi; former doctor Dr M Mathen; Alzahra University post-doctoral research fellow Teo Lee Ken; freelance Spanish translator Dr Thanussha Francis Xavier; lawyer Luqman Long; former national economic action council member Mohd Fakhruradzi Tajuddin; Perbadanan Kota Buku CEO Mohd Saufy Nizar Abdul Rahman; Syed Saddiq's special officer for Muar constituency Nur Afiqah M Zulkifli; agricultural entrepreneur Shahrizal Denci; NGO member Siti Rahayu Baharin; and Institute for Leadership and Development Studies projects and operations manager Tarmizi Anuwar.
Muda is spearheaded by Syed Saddiq, who was formerly Bersatu Youth chief until he was booted out from the party. Muda aims to be a youth-centric, multiracial political platform.
Non-compliance with Societies Act
It was reported that the ROS not only rejected Muda's application for registration as a political party but also rejected a similar application by Pejuang as well.
Pejuang, led by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had previously filed a legal action to compel ROS to decide on the group's registration application, which was purportedly unduly delayed.
However, Pejuang withdrew the legal action on Jan 7 when it received an email from the ROS informing about the rejection of the registration application.
Pejuang was formed last August as an offshoot of Bersatu.
Mahathir, who is Pejuang's pro-tem chairperson, its pro-tem president Mukhriz Mahathir and several others were previously ejected from Bersatu for refusing to sit with the PN government during a parliamentary session.
Mukhriz had said that if Pejuang's registration is rejected, the party may consider contesting the next general election under another party or on a coalition's ticket, rather than as third-party independents.
Two days ago, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin announced that applications by Muda and Pejuang to register as political parties were rejected due to their non-compliance with provisions under the Societies Act.
Hamzah said the ROS had found discrepancies with the requirements under Schedule 1 of the Act upon verifying documents submitted in both applications.
In response to Hamzah's announcement, Muda's Lim had then responded that they would not appeal to the minister regarding the group's registration, alleging that the minister's claim would strengthen their court case.
Meanwhile, Pejuang's lawyer Mior Nor Haidir Sulaiman said that they might go to court again to be registered as a political party if the home minister gives no reasonable answer to their appeal made under the Societies Act. - Mkini
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