THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed Malaysia United Democratic Alliance’s (MUDA) bid to initiate a judicial review of Putrajaya’s decision not to register the political party.

Judge Mariana Yahya ruled that MUDA should have exhausted all its avenues with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and the Home Ministry, as provided under the Societies Act 1966, before turning to the court.

The proceedings today were carried out online.

Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas acted as lead counsel for MUDA while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi represented the Home Ministry and its minister, Hamzah Zainuddin.

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and 12 others filed the application on January 12 to challenge the RoS decision to reject MUDA’s application to register itself as a political party.

Syed Saddiq, who is also former Bersatu’s Armada chief, in his supporting affidavit, said they received the letter from RoS on January 6, stating that MUDA’s application did not meet the first schedule of the Societies Act 1966.

“There is an omission from the RoS to explain in detail the small 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 MUDA registration application,” he said. – February 4, 2021.