Umno members who filed legal challenge against party can be stripped of membership

JOHOR BARU: Sixteen Umno members who challenged the party's legal status in court will likely have their membership stripped.
Caretaker Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pix) said the 16 members who challenged the party's legal status in court for failing to hold party elections in the last five years, risk having their membership stripped according to Umno's constitution.
The Pulai MP who spoke to reporters on a visit to a hawker centre in Taman Bukit Kempas here said the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has the final said on the legal status of the party.
"The ROS had approved another extension for Umno to hold its Supreme Council election.
"The fact that some quarters claim Umno is an illegal party is a non-issue, as the Ros has approved the extension.
"Umno is not like Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), the latter did not even hold their branches meeting," he said.
On Friday, members from various branches in Kuala Lumpur, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang and Malacca filed the application challenging the party's legal status at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
In their application, the applicants have stated that it is a violation of the party constitution for not conducting elections at the division and central level.
They have named the Registrar of Societies (RoS) as the first respondent and Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh, in his capacity as Umno's public officer, as the second respondent.
They are seeking a court order to nullify the decision by RoS to grant the party an extension of time to postpone its election to October next year.
The applicants stated in the application that they had on March 2, wrote to RoS requesting for an explanation, investigation and action in relation to the postponement of the party election.
On March 5, The RoS confirmed the approval of the extension application to hold the 2017 Umno Supreme Council election.
The RoS had said that this was in line with Clause 10.17 of Umno's constitution, which allows the postponement of the election at the supreme council, division and branch levels, to not more than 18 months from the date it should have been held.
It was reported that Umno had set the party election to be held on April 19, 2019.