Umno and the government obtained a stay of hearing in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today on the application by Anina Saadudin to declare as unconstitutional Section 18C of the Societies Act, which bars any party member from taking a dispute to court.

This comes after Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and organising secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh applied to strike out the suit filed by the former Langkawi Umno member on her expulsion from Umno.

Judicial commissioner Roslan A Bakar allowed the stay pending the hearing on the application to strike out Anina's suit.

"The striking out application will be heard on Oct 10," said lawyer Mohammad Raffique Rashid Ali, who is acting for Anina.

This was later confirmed by Mohd Hafarizam Harun, who appeared for Umno.

Hafarizam explained that they applied to strike out the suit because they did not want to reply to Anina, since this would be akin to giving her locus standii (legal standing) on the matter.

He said Umno filed the striking out application last month and this was supported by the government.

Anina filed the fresh suit last June, in which she sought a declaration that her expulsion from the party last year be declared null and void.

Anina wants Section 18C declared unconstitutional

She is also seeking a order to declare Section 18C of the Societies Act, which bars members from challenging any decision made by political parties, to be unconstitutional.

Anina had previously failed to challenge her expulsion from Umno in her suit against the party and its president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, to return the RM2.6 billion, which Najib allegedly received as “a donation”, to the party.

Following this, she filed a suit to challenge her expulsion from Umno, but this was thrown out by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur and by the Court of Appeal on grounds of Section 18C of the Act, under which members cannot challenge any decision of the society (or party) in court.

The High Court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear disputes in a political party (which is also registered under the Societies Act).

The Court of Appeal ruled that it was bound by the decision made in the case of MyPPP president M Kayveas.

Section 18C of the Societies Act was placed there in amendments to the Act in the wake of the 1988 Umno crisis, when the party was declared illegal following a challenge brought to court, after which Umno Baru was formed.