WITH UMNO decrying the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for dragging its feet on approving its recently made amendments to the party constitution, a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) leader explained the difference between the amendments approved for MCA, as opposed to the former.
“MCA’s constitution was amended and approved in 2019 so as to ensure their party polls are conducted six months after a general election. UMNO just made a similar amendment.
“But in 2019, the MCA central leadership was lawfully held by those who won the party polls in 2018. As for UMNO, its current leadership line-up’s term expired on June 30, 2021.
“And UMNO only made amendments to their party constitution on March 16, 2022. Bear in mind, the party’s current line-up is serving in a caretaker role and there is no provision in their constitution that allows for caretakers to make such amendments,” said Bersatu elections strategist Badrul Hisham Shaharin, popularly known as Chegubard, in a Facebook post.
On May 15, UMNO held an extraordinary general meeting where its party leaders had unanimously passed amendments to the party constitution to allow party elections to be postponed until six months after a general election.
While party delegates have approved the amendment, UMNO still requires the ROS to provide its stamp of approval.
Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan as saying that the party has a “Plan B” in the event ROS rejects the amendments.
However, the Pontian MP declined to divulge details on the matter.
Litmus test for PM
Touching on the matter, Badrul said that Clause 10.16 of the UMNO constitution clearly states that the party can only postpone its polls up to 18 months, after its term expires; with condition that the clause can only be invoked once.
“But the clause had already been invoked in 2021 and as such, there is no more provision in the party constitution for the party polls to be delayed further,” he quipped.
As such, Badrul opined that UMNO has no choice but to hold its party polls first. Thereafter, the new line-up can make amendments if they still want it.
“Plus, the ROS has no power under Section 13A (4) of the Societies Act to allow anymore time extension for UMNO to hold its election and it cannot allow a party to do something which is not provided by its own constitution.
“This case will be a litmus test for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri to ensure the administration will apply the rule of law equally to the Malaysian Family or otherwise,” Badrul noted. – July 12, 2022
Main photo credit: Suara Merdeka
