THE Registrar of Societies (RoS) will have Bersatu deregistered as the party chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad is too much of a threat to the ruling government, said PKR communication chief Fahmi Fadzi.

Fahmi, who is the Lembah Pantai youth chief, said Barisan Nasional was in cahoots with RoS and the Election Commission to defend against the threat posed by the former prime minister now leading the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan. 

“Dr Mahathir is not just a man but a message to Umno,” Fahmi said at the forum, Will GE14 be free and fair?, in Bangsar, tonight.

“As a reformist, I believe Tun Dr Mahathir is trying to do something for the country in his twilight years. Whether we agree or not, right now what he has done so far and how the government has responded had revealed to me that he is the greatest threat to Umno.

“That’s why I can assure you that not only will Pakatan Harapan not be registered, Bersatu will, in fact, be deregistered. Because that’s exactly what they need to do when they realise what a political force Bersatu is and what a political force Dr Mahathir is.” 

Fahmi, who is the PKR front-runner nominee for Lembah Pantai, said cheating in the next general election was also expected to take place at an “unprecedented” scale. 

“We have found a voter on the electoral roll, who is 150 years old. There are voters in the Lembah Pantai constituency who have been moved not once, but twice in last year alone, to Sekinchan, of all places.

“Your vote truly, deeply matters in this election. If you don’t come out and vote, someone will come and vote for you. Know the stakes. If you choose not to choose, you live with the choice you didn’t make, which is Najib gets to rule the country for another five years.” 

Hakam chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan, who was present at the event, said Malaysians should keep a check on their registration details, right up till polling day.

“Don’t stop checking, carry on checking because there are some real problems in the electoral roll. Where there’s one address in Wangsa Melawati where there are 14 voters registered in one house.”

RoS on February 28 sent a notice to Bersatu asking to be furnished with the party’s financial report as well as the minutes of the meetings of its divisions and branches within 30 days of the date of the notice, failing which the party could be deregistered.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said the party was unable to meet the deadline as RoS had only approved the setting up of the party divisions last July, while no organisation under a year old would hold an annual general meeting.

Should Bersatu be deregistered, party members have the option of contesting the elections under the banner of its coalition partners, including PKR.

Bersatu could also seek legal recourse but  that would take time.

“If Bersatu is deregistered, the former office bearers of Bersatu can file a judicial review to determine whether the Registrar of Societies acted reasonably and within its powers,” lawyer Michelle Ng told The Malaysian Insight.

Ng, who is DAP Legal Bureau secretary, said if the courts were with Bersatu on the matter, the party could apply to reverse its deregistration and demand to be reinstated.

There is precedence for Bersatu to contest the elections under a different party banner. In the last general election, PSM stood for election in the Sungai Siput and Kota Damansara state seats on a PKR ticket.

Ng said the implications of Bersatu not being able to contest under its own banner were not so much legal as they were political. 

“Bersatu has been successful in creating an identity behind its logo, in particular for the Malay community. Stripping Bersatu of that logo would compromise that identity and put Bersatu on a political backfoot, so to speak.” 

Bersatu would have to reestablish its identity if it were to wear the logo of its PH partners, she said.

“This is not at all easy because it means merging this new identity with the existing identity and the public perception of that existing identity behind the logo of choice.”

Penang Institute Fellow Wong Chin Huat said it would be the “greatest advertisement” of Dr Mahathir’s reconcilitation with Anwar Ibrahim if the Bersatu founder were to contest on a PKR ticket.

“DAP and Amanah could also contest under the PKR banner. Should that happen, the RoS director would be sacked after the elections,” he said. 

Parliament is expected to be dissolved after its current sitting, which ends April 5. The general election must be held by August 23, within 60 days of the automatic dissolution of Parliament on June 24.

An Umno source has been quoted as saying elections could be held as early as the third week of April. 

In GE14, 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats, not including Sarawak’s, will be contested. Sarawak held its state elections in 2016. – March 21, 2018.