Court Gives Minister 14 Days To Decide On Registration Of Veterans Party

---

 
Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet (2nd L) and founders of Parti Kemakmuran Negara posing for a photo at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday.PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Lumpur High Court has given home minister Hamzah Zainudin 14 days to decide on the appeal by a veterans-based political party to be officially registered.
Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said Parti Kemakmuran Negara had been successful in its application for judicial review against Hamzah yesterday.
Lim said the founders had applied to the Registrar of Societies to register the party on March 9, 2021. The application was rejected on March 16 this year.
The founders then appealed to the home minister on March 25 but he had yet to make a decision after nearly six months, he said.
-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 
“In the suit, the founders claimed that such a delay is unreasonable, unlawful and an infringement on the right to form associations under the Federal Constitution,” said Lim in the statement.
“The court ordered the minister to decide on the appeal within 14 days.”
Separately, Lim told FMT that delaying appeals made by those genuinely interested in forming political parties was “undemocratic, unfair and unreasonable”.
He hoped Hamzah would expedite such appeals by those wanting to form political parties as it would give them time to prepare for elections.
“My clients are veterans who have sacrificed and spent much of their lives for the security of this country, and some of them have been serving since the communist insurgency,” he said.
“To force them to wait and to go up and down the courts at their age is to show disrespect for these warriors who have served the nation for 30, 40 years.”
The party is led by Abdullah Mohamed, a retired brigadier-general who was involved in counter-insurgency measures against the communists in the 1970s and 80s.
The other founders are veterans from the army, navy and air force. - FMT

---