Excerpt:
"The letter dated April 17, 2013 from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to the DAP was one of the worst pieces of partisan decision-making by BN controlled civil servants intended to cripple an opposition party on the eve of nomination day prior to general elections."
"But the critical decision of the ROS is found in the last sentence of the letter, stating that pending the resolution of this dispute, ROS, acting under Section 3A of the Act “does not recognise the office-bearers of DAP appointed by the CEC on Dec 15."
ROS’ letter had been copied to the EC
"The practical effect of this decision was catastrophic. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (below) could no longer sign all the requisite documents for the nomination on April 20, of DAP’s 156 candidates for parliamentary and state seats.
Thus, DAP’s right to field these 156 candidates in its own name, and to campaign using its famous rocket symbol was called into question. The timing was as dastardly as the decision itself, since DAP only had 36 hours to decide its next course of action prior to nomination.
Any doubt that this was the sole intention of the ROS’ decision was removed when it is realised that their letter was copied to the Elections Commission (EC). When are letters from the ROS ordinarily copied to the EC?"
"In other words, the decision is ultra vires the Act. Even if DAP was minded to challenge ROS’s letter in court, the absolute lack of time to do so meant that this was neither a viable or practical option. As this was clearly a politically-motivated decision, DAP’s response had to be political.
Danger offers challenges and opportunities. DAP decided that instead of trusting either the EC or the ROS, it would accept the generous offer of PAS and PKR to stand on their tickets.
Hence, once again a decision of a BN-directed agency comes back to haunt BN - an own goal, if you will. It would be difficult to find a single Malaysian who will attribute the decision contained in the letter dated April 17 to have been independently made by ROS."
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