The Sarawak Association of Peoples' Aspiration (Sapa) is planning to sue Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for cancelling its registration as a society.

 

The one-year-old NGO told Malaysiakini yesterday after it was issued the deregistration order by the Sarawak’s Registrar of Societies.

 

Sapa president Lina Soo ( left ), who was called to the registrar’s office to pick up a copy of the gazette, said they are consulting their lawyers to sue the minister for signing the order which cancels their NGO registration under Section 5 of the Societies Act 1966.

 

“No reason was given. No show-cause letter had been given to us. Really, we are shocked by the minister’s action,” she said.

 

She accused Zahid ( left ) of acting arbitrarily and undemocratically in signing the order to deregister the society, which was gazetted on November 14.

 

Registered in November last year, SAPA has only 11 members, many of whom are government pensioners.

 

“How can the 11 of us pose a security threat? You must be joking,” Soo said.

 

Sapa has been organising forums and talks on issues reflecting Sarawakians’ aspiration for justice, equality and a better life.

 

It is understood that the cancellation of SAPA’s registration is linked to its initiative in organising a ‘people’s petition’ which they plan to submit to the UN.

 

The petition calls for a review of the position of Sarawak in Malaysia and asserts the people’s right to self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of United Nations.

 

Together with a Sabah-based NGO, the United Borneo Front (UBF), the initiative expects to collect at least 300,000 signatures for the people’s petition from the Borneo states within the next six months.

 

The campaign which started in August this year has attracted support from a few prominent politicians and political parties, especially those from Sabah.