by Tan Yi Liang, The Sun
June 17, 2008
PUTRAJAYA (June 17, 2008): After a 10-year tussle, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) today received approval from the Home Ministry to be registered as a national political party.
An official letter from the ministry was handed to PSM officials today just before the federal court was to hear an appeal by PSM protem chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim against the Home Minister’s decision not to allow the party’s registration.
It is understood that in the letter, the Home Ministry gave an indication that the party will be allowed to be registered under the Registrar of Societies, and that PSM was to re-submit the forms.
Following receipt of the letter, PSM counsel Tommy Thomas and Ragunath Kesevan today requested for the case before the Federal Court to be postponed.
Senior Federal Counsel Mary Lim, who represented the government then suggested that PSM drop the case, as the restrictions were “now merely academic”.
However the plaintiffs declined to withdraw the case until they receive “black and white approval” from the government.
PSM protem secretary-general S Arutchelvan told reporters outside the court house later that the party had, following a memorandum sent to Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar on May 28, received an email on June 4 from Syed Hamid agreeing to allow PSM to be registered.
“Thank you for your memo. I agree to approve the registration of your political party,” said the email in Bahasa Malaysia from Syed Hamid, which Arutchelvan showed the press.
He said Syed Hamid’s email was followed by another email on June 6 which read The Home Ministry will write and inform you of the steps to take to finalise the registration of your party.”
“We wish to ensure that if we are still rejected after we have submitted our formal letter, we can still go back to court,” he said.
Among the PSM leadership present were Mohd Nasir who is Kota Damansara assemblyman and Sungai Siput MP Dr D.Jeyakumar who is a central committee member.
The party had first applied for registration in 1999 but it was rejected by then Home Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, leading to an application for judicial review of the executive’s decision in the High Court.
The application was rejected by the High court in 2003 which besides ruling that the party had not met the ROS requirements to be a national party, upheld the government’s view that the party was a threat to national security.
In 2006, the High Court decision that PSM had failed to satisfy the ROS requirement was upheld by Court of Appeal, which however rejected the government’s claim that the party was a threat to national security.