Speaking to reporters at the lobby of the Parliament building, the home minister stressed that the decision to grant Umno an exemption was made pursuant to Section 70 of the Societies Act.

“Party members (who are) still not satisfied can take it to court,” he said in a Bernama report.

“Section 70 of the Act specifically allows the minister to make some exemptions, and the decision I made was directed by the exemption in compliance with Section 13 of the same Act,” he said.

Under Section 70, the home minister is empowered to use his discretion to exempt any registered society from all or any of the provisions of the Act.

Section 13(1)(c)(iv), on the other hand, allows the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to cancel the registration of a society if it violates any provision of the Act, any regulations made thereunder, or any of its rules.

RoS falls under the home ministry’s purview.

Last month, it was reported that RoS was investigating a possible violation of Umno’s constitution after a motion was approved at its general assembly in January to bar contests for the party’s top two posts in the upcoming party elections.

The investigation came about after two Umno members lodged a report with RoS claiming that the tabling of the motion at the general assembly had breached the party’s constitution.