Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said the Societies Act should also be amended to remove the power of the home minister to grant exemption from certain conditions under the Act.

He said the Act had been used by previous home ministers to exert pressure or block political opponents and societies critical of the government.

Pakatan Harapan, which leads the coalition government, should understand how the RoS was abused by the executive when it was in the opposition, Fann said.

He said an exemption granted to Umno from rules on the election of the party’s president and deputy president was clearly a political favour granted to a coalition partner in the unity government.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said last week he granted Umno an exemption for Umno’s motion to bar contests for the posts of president and deputy president at the Umno elections this month.

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

Fann said the discretionary power should be replaced with a clear process and set of criteria for applicants to fulfill and registration must be approved once all these are fulfilled.

“To continue such practices of exercising discretion would open the government to accusations of biases or abuse of power, and undermine the ability of the RoS to be a professional agency,” he said.

Former Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said an amendment to the Societies Act was long overdue. She said provisions in the law which allowed RoS to deregister organisations were also problematic.