KUALA LUMPUR – The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) today objected to an application for leave for a judicial review by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and 12 others to challenge the Registrar of Society’s (RoS) decision to reject their bid to have Muda registered as a political party.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambali said the objection was made on the grounds that the application is premature and an abuse of the court process.
“We argued that the applicants did not appeal to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin first before filing for leave for a judicial review, as provided for under Section 18 of the Societies Act 196, and that Muda has 30 days from January 6 to make its appeal.
“The court set February 4 for the decision on the judicial review application,” he told reporters after attending the virtual hearing of the application before high court judge Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya today.
Syed Saddiq and the 12 others, who are founding members of Muda, were represented by lawyers Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Lim Wei Jiet.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Muda, in a statement, said the AGC objected to the leave on the basis that the remedy of appeal against the RoS decision to the minister has not been exhausted.
“We contended that, through various representations, the minister essentially prejudged the matter, and therefore, it would be of no utility to appeal to him. Further, and in any event, the court is not precluded from considering this matter at the substantive stage.”
On January 12, the 13 applicants filed their bid for leave for a judicial review by naming RoS and the home minister as the first and second respondents, respectively, to seek an order to cancel RoS’ decision to refuse to register Muda as a political outfit under Section 7 of the Societies Act 1966.
Syed Saddiq, who is also former Bersatu Youth chief, in his supporting affidavit, said the applicants received a letter from RoS on January 6, stating that Muda’s application did not meet the First Schedule of the Societies Act, and that the application was rejected in accordance with Section 7(3)(e) of the act.
“There is an omission by RoS to explain in detail the small paragraph or provision under the First Schedule that was not complied with by Muda. We could not find out about the alleged non-compliance, and could not correct it.
“Muda has fully complied with all the provisions of the First Schedule of the Societies Act. Therefore, there is no basis to reject Muda’s registration application.” – Bernama, January 25, 2021
