Still hope to restore PBDSB registration

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KUCHING: There is still hope for Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru’s (PBDSB) registration to be restored as the new office-bearers had made an appeal to Home Affairs Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin.

PBDSB secretary-general Julius Enchana said the new office-bearers had made an official appeal to the minister upon the advice by the Registrar of Societies (ROS), which had cancelled the party’s registration on June 12 for wilfully failing to submit their annual returns from 2014 to 2017.

He said the new supreme council, which was elected on May 18 this year, was completely unaware of the showcause letter from ROS to PBDSB on Nov 10, 2018 and the registration’s cancellation letter on June 12 this year.

“I only knew about our registration’s cancellation when the assistant Registrar in Putrajaya called me by phone saying they were surprised to receive our triennial delegates conference (RDC) reports dated on Aug 29 because PBDSB had been deregistered on June 12.

“Then he wanted us to see them in their office, and we have met them on Sept 23. During our meeting the ROS officers advised us to make an appeal to the Minister of Home Affairs, which we have made the following day (Sept 24) .

“Now we are waiting on a decision from the Home Minister,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Julius reiterated that the new office-bearers did not receive the showcause letter or the registration’s cancellation letter at all.

He said even the showcause letter and the cancellation letter that they have with them were from the ROS when they met in Putrajaya on Sept 23.

He said according to ROS, the letters were sent to the founding president of the party Louis Jarau Patrick, to the registered office of PBDSB in Sri Aman, founding secretary general James Jalai Gayau and deputy president Patrick Anek Uren.

“In fact, we were surprised to know that in ROS’ record, Jarau was still the legitimate president of the party although there were already two presidents after him – Cobbold (2016 to March 2019) and Bobby (from May 2019),” he said.

“We have concluded that there was a miscommunication from Jarau to Cobbold or Anek, who was acting president after the demise of Cobbold on March 7, and to Bobby.

“The reason they were unable to tell us about the show cause and cancellation letter is best known to themselves; we do not know,” he said.

Julius said there was an assurance given by ROS when they met in Putrajaya; if the new office bearers replied to the show cause letter before they issued the letter of cancellation, they would not cancel the party’s registration.

“Unfortunately, we in the current committee did not know about the show cause letter and the cancellation letter,” he lamented.

Bobby and the party’s legal adviser Dominique Ng and other PBDSB supreme council members were also present.