Responding to a report lodged with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) by Johor PPBM members yesterday, PPBM’s youth wing chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said that the party had long decided to postpone its AGM.
“We already held a special meeting on this matter two months back, where we made sure the postponement was done in accordance to the party’s constitution.
“We had even consulted lawyers on this matter,” he said to FMT.
In its report to the RoS, the Johor PPBM members had complained about the party’s failure to hold AGMs at its branch, division and central levels.
Kluang PPBM division information chief Arjuna Putra Ali had reportedly said that according to the Societies Act 1967 and the Societies Regulations 1984, the party was supposed to hold an AGM within a year of its establishment, which means latest by Sept 9.
Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq said that the members involved in lodging the report were not actually representatives of the party divisions.
“They are members who were dissatisfied over the party’s failure to appoint them to the positions they had lobbied for.
“We had spoken to the division heads and the committee members. They all said they were unaware of the report lodged to the RoS,” he said.
Syed Saddiq also alluded to Umno possibly having a role to play in this latest development.
“We are still receiving reports that the same hands which interfered in Perak, those from Umno, are behind this.
“It signals Umno’s fear of losing its birth place, Johor, especially following reports that showed the state now swinging towards Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“They want to weaken PPBM in the state, as they believe PH will not have a chance there without PPBM. But that is not true.”
In May this year, 1,000 Perak PPBM members quit en masse claiming dissatisfaction over party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership ability.
Syed Saddiq had alleged that the resignations were masterminded by PPBM’s former vice-president Hamidah Osman. Hamidah denied the allegation and in September, left the party over its refusal to act against the PPBM Armada chief.
Asked as to why PPBM decided to postpone its AGM, he said it was because the party is still relatively new.
“Hence, there are still some branches that have yet to be formed.
“On top of that, we know the general election is coming soon, and this also allows for a postponement,” he said referring to the next general election which must be called by Prime Minister Najib Razak by June 2018.