Will SNAP be deregistered for the second time?

KUCHING:  Will the first Dayak-based party, Sarawak National Party (SNAP) be finally deregistered this time by the Federal Court?

Some people say that it is good if it is deregistered in order to minimise Dayaks being split and scattered in Dayak-based parties. It would be good all the Dayaks go to one single party either in Barisan Nasional or in Pakatan.

There are those who want to maintain that SNAP is still relevant. What do you think?

SNAP Secretary General Frankie Nyumboi said that the party remains a properly registered political party unless and until the court decides otherwise.

Nyumboi was asked to comment on a news item saying that the dispute over the registration of SNAP is not over yet as the Registrar of Societies has been given the nod by the Federal Court to appeal against a court decision which had restored the party’s registration.

“My comment and reaction to the news is simply to say that it is a normal process of litigation and ROS has a right to file for a leave of appeal to the Federal Court to appeal against the decision of the Appeal Court.

“As it is, leave it to the Federal Court to decide and as far as the party is concerned it remains as a properly registered political party unless and until the court decides otherwise.

“We are operating as usual and our rebranding and rebuilding exercise proceeds on,” Nyumboi told The Broken Shield.

Meanwhile, the three-member Federal Court last Tuesday unanimously allowed ROS’ application for leave to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in setting aside the ROS’ order in 2002 to deregister SNAP following the party’s failure to resolve its protracted leadership crisis.

The appeal concerned the interpretation of Section 13 and Section 16 of the Societies Act which were not decided by the Federal Court.

The Federal Court would have to determine four legal questions in the appeal proceeding including a question on whether under Section 16 of the Societies Act 1966 read together with Section 13 (2) of the same act, ROS was required to act mechanically or has the discretion to cancel a society’s registration if conditions under Section 16(1) were not complied with.

Another question of law was whether under Section 16 of the Societies Act 1966 read with Section 13 of the same act, ROS is required to give reasons for his decision in cancelling the registration of a society if conditions under Section 16(1) were not complied with.

SNAP was deregistered by ROS on November 2002 following a leadership crisis which also led to the formation of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party.

SNAP then applied for stay of execution, and after eight years in the political doldrums, it was given a new lease of life by the Court of Appeal on June 23, 2010.

It held its first triennial general assembly (TGA) on January 15, 2012 during which Stanley Jugol was elected as the sixth president of the party.

Formed on April 10, 1962, SNAP which became the third party to be formed after Sarawak United People’s Party and Party Negara opened the way for the Dayaks to be fully involved in political activities in preparation for Sarawak’s independence.

Sarawak became independent when it joined Sabah (then North Borneo), Singapore and Malaya to form the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963. (Singapore withdrew from the federation on August 8, 1965).

SNAP formed an alliance government with Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak, another Dayak-based party which was led by Temenggong Jugah Anak Barieng and Parti Panas led by Abang Openg bin Abg. Sapiee.

Stephen Kalong Ningkan, SNAP Secretary General was made the first Chief Minister of Sarawak, while Jugah became the Minister for Sarawak Affairs and Openg appointed the first governor.

With nine members of Parliament and 18 state assemblymen in the early days of Sarawak’s independence, SNAP today has been reduced to skeletal remains after it has been split twice in its 50 years of existence.

The deregistered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak, Parti Rakyat Sarawak and SPDP were the off-shoots of the party. 

Let MDC rest in the dusty file of ROS

Nothing short of magic could have ensured the speedy registration of Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP), said M. Kathirveloo, a close associate of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader, P. Uthayakumar.

In view of this, Kathirveloo asked if MMSP was endorsed by BN?

He suspects this because he tried to register another party, Indian Rights Action Front (IRAF) in June last year, but the application was turned down in April this year.

In a letter to IRAF dated 3 April 2009, the ROS said that the application was rejected because the organization was suspected of having similar name to the outlawed Hindraf.

For MMSP, its leader Thanenthirran met with PM Najib Tun Razak one month before the registration of the party.

It was obvious that MMSP had the blessing of the Barisan Nasional with the ultimate aim of further splitting the Indians. The MMSP leader was with Parti Keadilan Rakyat and he resigned from PKR when he was not selected to contest the Bukit Selambau by-election.

Now the Indians have MIC, PPP, MIUP and MMSP. Any party, wishing to be registered, and is seen to be working against the interests of the Opposition will surely be approved. And any party working against the interest of parties in the government will not be approved.

Thus, it was perceived to be working against “national security” that Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) could not be registered. The real reason is not “national security” but on the strong objection of Sarawak leaders, who do not want the word “Dayak” to be used in the name of the party.

Firstly, the word “Dayak” has been banned from being used in Sarawak government official communication since 2004 when the Sarawak Interpretation Ordinance was amended.

Secondly, the State leaders said to be fearful of the word “Dayak” that might have the magic wand to unite all the Dayaks in Sarawak. The unity of the Dayaks is therefore seen to be against the interests of the parties that rule Sarawak now.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Joseph Entulu, deputy president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak, let the “cat out of the bag” when he proposed to drop the word “Dayak” as it connoted “uncivilized, uncouth and low class”. He felt ashamed to have anything to do with Dayaks.

Entulu’s remark was seen as playing to the gallery or dancing to the tune of his new found political master – the "Aki" who since 1966 had been advocating for the split of the Dayaks into Ibans, Bidayuhs and Orang Ulu.

Yes he was successful with the removal of Stephen Kalong Ningkan as Sarawak’s first chief minister. He had a hand to see that SNAP was split in 1983 as well as in the deregistration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

The “death” of PBDS was thought to be his greatest achievement. This followed the ban on the use of the word “Dayak”. And this explains why any attempt to revive PBDS through MDC or any Dayak party will surely be strongly opposed by the present leaders in the State.

The real reason is the fear that these leaders are harbouring in their minds that one day there will be “Ketuanan Dayak” in Sarawak.

For the time being, MDC is best left to rest in a dusty file of the ROS until and when a new federal government hopefully the Pakatan Rakyat government will come to power, say in 2013.

If Parti Sosialis Malaysia can wait for more than 10 years to be approved as a party, there is no reason why we Dayaks cannot wait another three or four more years for the installation of a new government that may be friendly with the Dayaks.

And for the time being the hardcore Dayaks need to “Numpang” or “nyarok” or even “nangkir” other friendly parties who share our aspirations to fight for the interests of the Dayaks and defend our customary rights over land. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Malaysian Dayak Congress to decide on party registration soon

Following a brief interview with BERNAMA yesterday, the following article was published in The New Straits Time Online, today 18 Jan 2009.

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By: Caroline Jackson, BERNAMA

KUCHING, Sun.: The pro-tem committee members of the yet-to-be-registered Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) will decide soon whether to make a fresh application to the Registrar of Societies (ROS), its protem information chief Joseph Tawie said.

He said, alternatively, party members, comprising former Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak PBDS) members who remained partyless, could join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) or other political parties in the state.

“We (MDC) have received a number of invitations to join the opposition but we are still holding on as we have yet to decide on the next course of action,” he told Bernama today.

The Home Ministry, in a letter dated April 9 last year, rejected MDC’s appeal to be registered as a political party on grounds that its registration could pose a threat to security and public order.

The pro-tem committee members had appealed against the ROS’ decision to the Home Minister in August 2006, after an application to register the MDC, submitted on May 6, 2004, was rejected on July 19, 2006.

Following the deregistration of PBDS on Oct 21, 2004, many of its 200,000 members opted to join its offshoot, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), a state Barisan Nasional (BN) component party while “tens of thousands ex-PBDS members remained partyless,” Tawie said.

In the May 2006 state election, MDC candidates had to contest under the opposition Sarawak National Party (SNAP) tickets as its registration could not be approved on time. ROS, meanwhile, advised the applicants to submit a fresh application if they were still interested to pursue the MDC registration.

Home Affairs Minister rejects MDC application

The Minister of Home Affairs has rejected the appeal of Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) to register it as a political party on grounds of security and public order.

In a letter dated 9 April 2008, signed by an official of the Ministry said that the Minister after a careful investigation and consideration has to reject the appeal to register Malaysian Dayak Congress.

“The appeal is rejected based on Section 7(3)(a) of the Societies Act 1966 on grounds that its registration can cause a threat to security and public order,” the official said in the letter.

However, if the applicants were still interested to pursue the MDC registration then they should submit a fresh application to the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

In revealing this today, Joseph Tawie, Protem Information Chief of Malaysian Dayak Congress said that the application to register MDC was submitted on 6 May 2004. The Registrar of Societies rejected it on security grounds under Section 7(3)(a) on 19 July 2006.

The protem committee on 12 August 2006 appealed against the decision of the Registrar to the Minister of Home Affairs.

“Now the Minister has rejected our appeal under the same Section,” said Tawie, who expressed deep regret over the decision of the minister.

Section 7 (3) says: “The Registrar shall refuse to register a local society where - (a) it appears to him that such local society is unlawful under the provisions of this Act or any other written law or is likely to be used for unlawful purposes or any purpose prejudicial to or incompatible with peace, welfare, security, public order, good order or morality in Malaysia;”

Tawie said the protem committee members will meet in the next few days whether to submit a fresh application or not.

But in the meantime two options are open to tens of thousands ex-PBDS members who have remained partyless since the deregistration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) on 21 October 2004. (Before its deregistration PBDS had nearly 200,000 members.)

One is for them to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the other is to join any of the existing parties in the State.

Personally, I will call on the ex-PBDS members to find a leader and in a group let us all join PKR, hoping that one day PKR together with DAP and PAS will form not only the State government of Sarawak, but also the Federal government.

Only with a change of government can we change laws that are harmful to the Natives. - The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

MDC letter to the British Government

Representatives from the Dayak community of Sarawak should have been invited to attend a briefing at the House of Lords regarding the plight of the Malaysian Indians on 8 December 2008. After all, the plights of the Dayaks and Indians are almost the same.

British Conservative Shadow Minister for Education and a Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Verma of Leicester hosted the briefing on the plight of minority Indian rights of Malaysia. The briefing followed a letter written to the British Government by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) in November last year and later HINDRAF demonstrations to highlight their problems.

Held at the House of Lords on behalf of the friends of minority communities in Malaysia, the purpose of the briefing was for members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to obtain a true picture on the plight of the ethnic minority Indian community in Malaysia.

Giving the briefing were the Director of Public Policy of Hindu American Foundation Ishani Chowdhury, Director of Centre for Public Policy Studies Malaysia Tricia Yeoh, Human Rights Advocate Malaysia P. Waythamoorthy and Editor of Malaysiakini K. Kabilan.

It is sad that Malaysian Dayaks have not been invited to attend the briefing even though we wrote a letter to the British High Commission. In fact the protem secretary general of the yet-to-be registered Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) wrote a letter a month earlier than the HINDRAF, to the British High Commission.

Copies of the letter were sent to Foreign Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, Registrar of Societies and American Embassy regarding the gross injustices and discrimination by the authorities against the Dayaks who were once the British subjects before Sarawak, Sabah, Singapore and Malaya formed the federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Our letter was apparently ignored as we did not organise “strikes to highlight our problems” as the Indians did or that we were/are a coward lot; or that we have become irrelevant.

Let me produce excerpts of the letter for all of us to see. (Full details of the letter are published in The Broken Shield – The Dayak Dilemma due to be out soon). The letter dated 18 October 2007 said: -

"We feel that we have the right to bring to the attention of Her Majesty Government, as our former colonial masters regarding our plight, hoping that Her Majesty can advise the Malaysian authorities to accord the Dayak community the privileges and rights as enshrined in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) report and the Malaysian Agreement.

“Our customary rights over land, with the passing of amendments to the Land Code
have been taken away from the Dayaks and are being given to rich businessmen or
companies under the guise of Provisional Lease for the cultivation of oil palm in big scales. While other communities have progressed by leaps and bounds, the Dayaks have remained mired in the doldrums of poverty, little better, if at all, as they had been under the British tutelage. There is a difference, however, while the British Government guaranteed the rights to land held under customary laws, but in our present situation the opposite seems to operate adversely against the Dayak community.

“As if these discriminations are not enough, the Dayaks are not even allowed to
form a party of their own to articulate their political, educational, cultural, economic and social aspirations. What Dayak-based parties they had in the past were being deregistered one by one – first the authorities deregistered Sarawak National Party (SNAP) and then Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) both on flimsiest reasons. The Dayaks who number about 60% of the State population are encouraged to be members of every political party by the BN leaders. This is a subtle way of ‘divide and rule’ community.

“Following the deregistration of PBDS in October 2004, some ex-PBDS members on 6 May 2005 submitted an application to register Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC).
After more than one year of submission, the application was rejected by the Registrar of Societies on 19 July 2006 under Article 7 (3) of the Societies Act giving reasons that MDC would be a potential threat to national security for its rejection.

“It is in this light that we the protem committee members and the Dayak community who were once Her Majesty’s subjects appeal to Her Majesty Government to put pressure on the Malaysian Government.”

Strange it may seem, the Indians have also taken a similar course of action against the British Government, except that they were more aggressive, more demanding and took their problems to the streets. So on 25 November 2007, they launched what is famously known as the HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) march to the British High Commission handing a note to Her Majesty Government.

Although the Dayaks have missed the first briefing, it is hoped that another briefing may be called specifically to hear the grouses of the Dayaks. Through this blog we appeal to the British High Commission to arrange for the protem committee members to meet any British leader, British MP, or staff of the High Commission so that the committee members can brief any one of them on the plight of the Dayaks. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com