PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin said that in comparison, his party was pressured by RoS to hold elections less than a year after its formation.
“It’s something else when it comes to Umno. It has clearly contravened its constitution by extending the delay in holding party elections beyond 18 months.
“Surprisingly, RoS has approved Umno’s decision which violated the party’s constitution.
“Compare this with PPBM which was less than a year old and therefore had strong reason (not to hold party elections) because we were in the process of building the party’s structure,” he told a news conference at PPBM headquarters.
Muhyiddin urged RoS not to take sides between the administration and the opposition.
“If RoS is fair, then what it says to PPBM should apply as well to Umno, which is that they must hold party elections according to the timeline set in its constitution.
“So, RoS should act fairly and stop its threat to deregister PPBM,” he said.
Last Jan 12, the registrar, Surayati Ibrahim, said RoS was scrutinising more than 400 complaints lodged against PPBM’s first annual general assembly.
She said the complainants questioned the status of the party as there were no elections at the branch and divisional levels before the general assembly.
Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor has rejected claims that the party would be deregistered soon because of the postponement of internal elections.
He said the Umno party elections would be held, at the latest, on April 19, 2019.
“This has been approved by the RoS. Under Section 13 A(4) of the Societies Act 1966, RoS is empowered to extend the date or time of a registered organisation’s elections on condition there is a written application,” he said.