KUCHING: The Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) movement is not registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
RoS Sarawak director Georgina Apphia Ngau said S4S did submit an application for registration in 2015.
“They applied to be registered as a political organisation in 2015 but they are not considered a political party. Hence, the application was rejected,” she told a press conference yesterday.
She stressed that the registration of all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is stipulated under the Societies Act 1966 and quoted Section 2 of the Act, which states “society includes any club, company, partnership, or association of seven or more persons whatever its nature or object, whether temporary or permanent”.
“Are there more than seven of them in S4S? Are they doing something that is common in interest? It is clearly stated in the Societies Act 1966,” she said.
Georgina added RoS has approached S4S in the hopes the movement would register.
“We encourage them to register with RoS. I don’t want to say whether they are lawful or unlawful, the Societies Act 1966 is very clear, and it is available online,” she said.
She added the RoS Sarawak office is closely monitoring the activities of various NGOs.
“We do monitor what organisations have been doing because we are concerned about their activities. More so, we need to be aware of what they are doing,” she said.
Georgina added the RoS eRoses System shows there are 12 registered political parties in Sarawak.
She reiterated that RoS Sarawak has no authority over the registration of political parties, as the matter comes under the RoS headquarters.