PARLIAMENT | Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the proper avenue to dispute his exemption granted to Umno from provisions under the Societies Act 1966 was in court.
"If the complainant is not satisfied or if the menteri had abused his powers, the avenue (for remedy) is the legal process.
"We will respond in court," he said during his winding-up speech on Budget 2023 in Dewan Rakyat today.
Saifuddin was responding to several MPs who, during the debate stage, complained about Saifuddin's decision to invoke Section 70 of the law to exempt Section 13(1)(c)(iv) from being applied to Umno.
Section 13(1)(c)(iv) stipulated that the Registrar of Societies (ROS) may deregister a party for contravening its own rules.
In January, the Umno general assembly approved a motion to prevent a contest for the position of party president and deputy president during the upcoming party election.
Critics have argued that the motion was in contravention of Article 9.3 of Umno's constitution which stipulated that all key party positions must be subjected to an election every three years.
Unsatisfied with Saifuddin's response, Takiyuddin Hassan (Perikatan Nasional-Kota Bharu) demanded to know if a purported leaked ROS letter to Umno recently was authentic.
According to the purported letter that has been widely shared online, the ROS had urged Umno to take "corrective measures" because the decision to prevent the election for the top two positions was invalid.
Takiyuddin also demanded that Saifuddin explain the rationale behind granting such an exemption to Umno, warning that it would set a bad precedent.
Saifuddin refused to address the letter and instead repeated that the proper avenue for complaints was in court.
As for his rationale, Saifuddin said this was a state secret.
"I'm sure you know that (some) government correspondences are classified as secrets. We can't make it public. Surely there is a rationale for the decision," he said. - Mkini
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