KUCHING: The majority of active groups and movements in Sarawak are already registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS), says its director-general Masyati Abang Ibrahim.
According to her, any group or movement that wants to carry out activities in the community is required to register with the RoS, in compliance with the requirements as stipulated under the Societies Act 1966.
“Most of those (groups and movements) that carry out activities are registered, but should we come across any that is not registered, we would ask them to register – we encourage them to do so,” she told reporters when met after launching the ‘#ros_care Jelajah HiPER 2019’ at Mydin Petra Jaya here yesterday.
Masyati Abang Ibrahim
Stressing that any group wanting to carry out its activities must register with the RoS, Masyati said those that had yet to register would be considered illegal bodies and thus, they would not be permitted to hold any public event.
These unregistered entities could face action from the RoS.
“We tell them that if they want to move as a society, then they have to register with us. It is the law and you have to follow the rule of law,” she pointed out.
While not revealing what sort of action would be taken against the unregistered groups or movements, she said any action taken would depend on the provisions framed under the Societies Act.
Asked if there were many groups and movements in Sarawak that remained unregistered with the RoS, she was unable to provide any offhand number.
“That one, we would have to look into the statistics.”
Asked how many groups and movements in Sarawak had registered with the RoS, Masyati was unable to disclose any information.