ROS didn’t err on Amanah — Abdul Karim

1
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah

Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah

SIBU: The Registrar of Societies (ROS) did the right thing when it disallowed Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) from carrying out activities while still under the name of Malaysian Workers Party, Asajaya assemblyman Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said.

Hence, state Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen should not have blamed the ROS, he added.

Abdul Karim, who is Assistant Minister of Youth Development, said: “I am just dumbfounded by YB Chong calling the ROS ‘trying to be funny and nasty’ when the ROS announced that Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) cannot carry out any activities until it has successfully changed its name from Malaysian Workers Party.

“As a lawyer, YB Chong should be well aware that a party cannot start operating or doing activities until they are registered. That is how the law is and any lawyer would agree with that.

“We uphold the ‘Rule of Law’ and chaos would happen if everyone is to take the laws into their own hands,” Abdul Karim said.

He added: “Parti Amanah is not even registered yet, so no activity using that name should be allowed just yet.”

Chong, who is also Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, had asserted that there was no reason for ROS not to approve the proposed change of name to Amanah.

To this, Abdul Karim said even if the promoters of Amanah claimed that they were “taking over” Malaysian Workers Party and later would change the party’s name to Amanah, legally, Amanah was still non-existent.

“If there are activities that they want to do, they will have to use Workers Party as their vehicle or any other registered political parties but not Amanah. It’s just like driving a car.

“If you don’t have a valid driving licence, driving one would still be an offence even if you can drive the car competently,” he said.

“YB Chong should not blame the ROS and getting emotional with him. He should just advise Amanah promoters to wait until Amanah is fully registered before having that ‘marriage’ with DAP.

“As it is now, their relationship is still an illegal relationship,” he said.