Syed Saddiq, 12 others fail in bid to challenge RoS rejection of Muda registration

Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and 12 others today failed in their bid to obtain leave to challenge the decision of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) rejecting their application to register Muda as a political party.

This followed a decision by High Court judge Mariana Yahya, allowing the objection by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to the leave application for judicial review.

Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly said the court found that the applicants had failed to comply with the provision under Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966 in which they should have first appealed the matter with the home minister.

The court dismissed the application with costs of RM2,000, he said when contacted by reporters after case proceedings today.

On Jan 25, the AGC objected to the application by Syed Saddiq and the 12 others on grounds that the applicants had not appealed to Hamzah before filing a judicial review as provided for under Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966, and that they had 30 days from Jan 6 to submit their appeal.

They filed the application on Jan 12 naming the RoS and the home minister as the first and second respondents, seeking an order to quash the RoS’ decision refusing to register Muda as a political party under Section 7 of the Societies Act 1966.

Syed Saddiq, who is also former Bersatu Youth chief, in his supporting affidavit, said they received the letter from RoS on Jan 6 stating that Muda’s application did not meet the First Schedule of the Societies Act 1966 and that the application was rejected in accordance with Section 7 (3) (e) of the Act.

“There is negligence on the part of the RoS in not explaining in detail the sub paragraph or provision under the First Schedule which is not complied with by Muda. We could not find out about the alleged non-compliance and could not correct it.

“Muda has fully complied with all the provisions of the First Schedule of the Societies Act 1966. Therefore, there is no basis to reject the application to register Muda,” he said.