THE office of the Registrar of Societies should not be made a political tool for the government to use and manipulate, said Anwar Ibrahim. 

The opposition leader said the RoS must give reasons as to why it has rejected the registration of Pejuang and Muda as political parties. 

“The RoS’ decision to deny registration of Pejuang and Muda is completely unacceptable. 

“These rights are enshrined in our federal constitution. We must demand the registrar state to all of us why these two parties were denied approval. 

“The office of the RoS is not a political tool for the government to use and manipulate to suit their agenda,” said the PKR president in a statement today.

He added that transparency and accountability must be enforced and enshrined in RoS, and with personnel at the department be called to account for their actions. 

It was reported earlier today the RoS had rejected the application of both Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s Muda. 

No reasons were given by the RoS for the rejections in letters sent to the parties yesterday evening. 

Muda, in a statement, said the RoS has no solid grounds to reject the youth-based political party’s registration. 

“This is a malicious move by the Perikatan Nasional government to prevent Muda and its supporters from participating in the coming general election. 

“It also violates Muda’s constitutional right to freedom of association,” the party said in a statement. 

Dr Mahathir meanwhile is scheduled to hold a press conference later this evening, and is expected to address this issue. 

Pejuang submitted its application in August last year, while Muda sent theirs a month later. – January 7, 2021.