KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan Chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should know better than to insinuate that the Home Ministry is sabotaging the opposition pact's registration with the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said, this is because Dr Mahathir, being the country's longest-serving prime minister, knows full well that elements of sabotage do not exist in the ministry.
He said this when asked by reporters on claims that the Home Ministry, namely its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has a hand in Pakatan Harapan's application with the RoS.
Shahidan stressed that it is not possible for the Home Ministry to do such a thing. He also said its officers have been very professional in handling Pakatan Harapan's application to become an official opposition coalition.
"It's not possible at all for the Home Ministry to sabotage it. Dr Mahathir was the prime minister, so he knows there's no way the Home Ministry would do such a thing.
"They have been very professional," he told a press conference at the Parliament building here today.
Yesterday, Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, dismissed claims that he has a hand in the application, adding that although RoS falls under the purview of his ministry, the agency has so far been professional in resolving the issues.
Zahid had also explained that the reason behind the delay is due to problems faced by the component parties, which he said can only be resolved by them.
The issues, he said, concern Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (PPBM) failure to hold an annual general meeting (AGM) while DAP has yet to submit the final report of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) re-election to the RoS.
Last Friday, RoS director-general Surayati Ibrahim said the RoS does not recognise PPBM's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on Nov 2 last year as only 12 of its supreme council members attended the meeting.
Surayati also said that PPBM cannot use the term "Armada" to refer to its youth wing as it is not stated in the party's constitution.
Recently, Dr Mahathir admitted that the reason PPBM could not hold an AGM was due to the party's poor organisational structure as its divisions and branches have failed to hold meetings at their respective levels although the party was officially registered in Sept last year.
DAP on the other hand held its CEC re-election recently, following a directive for fresh elections to be held. This was due to RoS on July 7 saying that the DAP's earlier CEC re-election on Sept 29, 2013 was not in accordance with the law.
Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng on Saturday said DAP is still waiting for the official report from external auditor Grant Thornton on the re-election in order for them to be able to submit it to the RoS