Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said with Putrajaya’s emergency power, there was no way out for Pejuang whose registration had been rejected by the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
“With an emergency, the power of the prime minister cannot be challenged. There is no more democracy.
“So I think the Fighters can not do anything for the Registrar to register the party,” he said in a statement.
Mahathir said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Bersatu president, was angry when Najib Razak became prime minister doing the same thing to him in 2018.
However, Mahathir said Muhyiddin was now doing the same to the Fighters.
“United leaders in government must know that the day before the 14th General Election, United registration is canceled.
“The current prime minister who was then the president of Bersatu was very angry. He considered (the cancellation) unfair and a dirty tactic by Najib’s government to do so.
“But now that he is a government with emergency powers, he is doing the same thing that he criticized Najib before,” Mahathir said in a statement.
Mahathir said the Registrar of Societies (ROS) had confirmed that the Fighters registration application was ‘no problem’ but approval should be referred to Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, although the procedure did not require it.
Finally, Dr Mahathir said Fighters needed to take the matter to court.
“The evening before the court ruled, ROS replied that our application was rejected.
“The reason given by ROS, the online version of our party’s constitution is incorrect? But we have provided a printed copy,” he said.
Mahathir joked, asking if blocking the registration of Fighters is also one of the steps that need to be taken in fighting the Covid-19 epidemic.
“Is it possible that by approving our party will worsen the epidemic or the government is so busy managing Covid-19 that it has no time for other matters.
“Or this is the way the government ensures unopposed elections,” he said.
The declaration of emergency, which took effect on Jan. 11, saw the suspension of Parliament and the Federal Constitution.
Muhyiddin said an emergency was needed to fight the outbreak but critics claimed the emergency was used for him to stay in power after losing the majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
