Pejuang registration: Mukhriz slams home minister for saying he's 'too busy'

 

Pejuang pro-tem president Mukhriz Mahathir has taken a jab at Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainudin’s reasoning in his court affidavit that he was too busy to deal with Pejuang's registration appeal.

“In his court affidavit, Hamzah gave the excuse that he was too busy to look at Pejuang’s registration appeal.

“Busy doing what? Interfering in the police force? Perikatan Nasional (PN) could be approved in two weeks,” Mukhriz (above) said in a post on Facebook today.

Pejuang had filed a judicial review to compel both respondents Hamzah and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to make a decision on the party’s registration appeal.

The independent Malay-based party was first set up in August last year after former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his faction broke away from Bersatu.

Aside from Mahathir and Mukhriz, the other founding members of Pejuang are senator Marzuki Yahya, Sri Gading MP Shahruddin Md Salleh, as well as Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik, who has since left the group to be an independent lawmaker.

“Actually, the minister does not want to approve Pejuang because Pejuang is the biggest threat to Bersatu where the minister (Hamzah) is also the secretary-general.

“This is democracy in PN’s era,” Mukhriz said in his post.

He also attached a page from Hamzah’s court affidavit, in which the minister explained his reasons for taking such a long time to decide on Pejuang’s registration appeal.

Hamzah said in the affidavit that he received Pejuang’s appeal on Jan 8, 2021 but then he was hospitalised for Covid-19 from Jan 12 to 24, 2021, after which he continued home quarantine up to Feb 1.

Then, he said he received the appeal documents and Pejuang’s amended party constitution from the ROS on Feb 22, which he said he needed to examine closely before making any decisions.

Around the same time, there were 102 appeals made by various organisations under Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966 which Hamzah said he had to go through one by one.

This included Pejuang’s appeal, which he said numbered 90 on the list of appeals.

Aside from the appeals under the Societies Act, Hamzah also said he is responsible for considering appeals under other Acts covered by his jurisdiction.

He said he has to carry out the functions of the home minister under 47 other acts. - Mkini