The legal action by Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang) to be registered as a political party will come up for hearing on April 1.
The fledgling group’s lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali confirmed the hearing date had been set by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
“(Pejuang’s) JR (judicial review) leave (application) is on April 1,” he told Malaysiakini today.
Rafique added that sealed copies of the legal action’s cause papers have been extracted from the court and will be served on the Home Minister and the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on Monday next week.
Earlier on Monday this week, it was reported that Pejuang, which is spearheaded by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, filed a second legal action in its bid to be officially registered as a political party.
The group is targeting Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin’s alleged failure to make any decision over its appeal to be registered.
Pejuang was appealing to the minister against the RoS’ decision on Jan 6 to reject the group’s registration application.
Before this, Pejuang had gone to court to challenge the RoS' delay in making a decision over the group’s application to be registered.
However, the group withdrew that legal action following the RoS announcing its decision on Jan 6 to reject the registration application.
Pejuang was formed last August as an offshoot of Bersatu.
Pejuang pro-tem chairperson Mahathir, pro-tem president Mukhriz Mahathir and several others were previously ejected from Bersatu for refusing to sit with the Perikatan Nasional government during a parliamentary session.
Through the present legal challenge, Pejuang seeks, among others, a mandamus order to compel the minister to direct the RoS to finalise the group's registration as a political party, within seven days from the date of the court judgment.
The group seeks a mandamus order to compel the minister to give his decision on the group's appeal against the RoS' move not to allow it to be officially registered as a political party.
Another declaration sought is that the minister's alleged failure to make a decision on the group's letter of appeal to him (the minister), dated Jan 8, amounted to a contravention of his statutory duty under Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966.
Section 18 states that a local society or its office bearer may, within 30 days from the date of the decision of the RoS, appeal against the decision to the home minister, and the minister, whose decision shall be final, may confirm, reject or vary the decision of the registrar.
Pejuang is also seeking a declaration that the minister's alleged contravention of his statutory duty had "contravened the applicant's valid wish, is unreasonable, of bad faith, as well as an uncalled-for attempt to deny the applicant's constitutional right to association and/or Pejuang's constitutional right to contest under its own logo for the general elections".
Before this, via a separate email dated Jan 6, the RoS also rejected the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance's (Muda's) application to be officially registered as a political party.
Muda mounted a failed legal bid to compel the RoS to officially register it as a political party.
Muda, which is spearheaded by former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, then appealed to the home minister against the RoS' rejection.
However, Malaysiakini reported a claim by the group that the minister has yet to respond to its appeal, despite the group having sent its appeal on Feb 4. - Mkini
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