UMNO has become an illegal political party because Najib was indecisive and hesitant as when to hold 14GE, which involves very high personal stakes for him
UMNO has become an illegal political party because Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Prime Minister and President of UMNO, was abnormally indecisive and hesitant when to hold the 14th General Election, which involves very high personal stakes for him.
Under the UMNO party constitution, UMNO is required to hold UMNO Supreme Council elections once every three years, but the UMNO Supreme Council has the power to give an 18-month extension under special circumstances, like preparing for the 14th General Election.
The last UMNO triennial elections were held on Oct. 20, 2013, which means that UMNO Supreme Council elections must be held by Oct. 19, 2016 to comply with the three-year requirement or by April 19, 2018, if there is a 18-month extension decided by the UMNO Supreme Council.
On June 26, 2015, Najib announced that the UMNO Supreme Council had decided to put off party elections due in October 2016 by 18 months.
He said:
"According to Article 10.16 of the Umno constitution, the supreme council has the right to postpone elections for its supreme council, divisions and branches.
"This postponement cannot exceed 18 months from the date the elections were supposed to be held", i.e. by 19th April 2018.
There was however no UMNO Supreme Council elections by April 19, 2018, and this fatal violation of the UMNO Constitution cannot be cured, overcome or rescued in any manner by the Registrar of Societies.
It is clear that all this chop-and-change as to when to hold UMNO Supreme Coucil elections was all because of the extraordinary indecisiveness of Najib to decide when to hold the 14th General Elections.
When the UMNO Supreme Council decided in June 2015 to extend UMNO Supreme Council elections by 18 months, the date of the expected 14th general elections was end- 2016 or early-2017, which would be after the three-year expiry date for UMNO Supreme Council elections in Oct. 2016.
If there were no 18-month extension, UMNO leaders from branch, divisional to national levels, would be more interested in 2015 and 2016 to prepare for UMNO party elections so that they could get elected into important posts which would have an important bearing as to whether they could become UMNO candidates, whether for MP or State Assembly representative.
In retrospect, the best time for Najib to hold the 14th GE would have been in 2016, after the BN streak of victories in the Sarawak state general elections and two parliamentary by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar. Furthermore, PPBM or Bersatu was only formed in September 2016
But like Hamlet, Najib was stricken by the “To Be or Not To Be” syndrome, and 2016 came and went without any dissolution of Parliament and 14th General Elections.
Najib’s extraordinary indecisiveness as to when to hold the 14GE went on for the whole year of 2017, and Parliament was only dissolved on April 7, 2018 and 14GE Polling Day fixed for May 9, 2018.
But this was after the cut-off date for the holding of UMNO Supreme Council elections by April 19, 2018, and this fatal violation of the UMNO Constitution cannot be cured, overcome or rescued in any manner by the Registrar of Societies.
I have studied Section 3A of the Societies Act, 1966, which had been quoted by the UMNO Secretary-General Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as vesting powers on the Registrar of Societies to give a further year-long extension for UMNO Supreme Council elections till April 19, 2019.
“3A. In addition to the powers, duties and functions conferred on the Registrar by this Act and any regulations made thereunder, the Registrar shall have and may exercise all such powers, discharge all such duties and perform all such functions as may be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to and carrying out the provisions of this Act.”
Does Tengku Adnan understand English or Bahasa Malaysia, as it is very plain that Section 3A of the Societies Act does not give the Registrar of Societies any such powers.
This means that UMNO and Barisan Nasional have become illegal political parties since yesterday and the Barisan Nasional logo of daching cannot be used in the 14th General Election Nomination Day next Saturday on April 28, 2018.