Sabah Consumers Association (SCA) will be convening an emergency executive committee meeting in the next three days in a last-ditch effort to save the body from deregistration.

The committee plans to fight the 31-year-old NGO’s deregistration every step of the way. This was confirmed late last night by SCA secretary-general James Bagah. SCA’s fate had been widely reported in the local media yesterday with no confirmation from either the Registrar of Societies (ROS) or the SCA.

“Yes, we have been deregistered as of July 7. We will be fighting the move to finish us off for good,” said Bagah, who was elected secretary-general for the first time at an AGM held in March this year.

“We are currently getting our executive committee members together from all over Sabah to convene within the next three days. We have until the 7th of next month to file our appeal against the deregistration of SCA.”

Bagah disclosed that the appeal process will focus on the two points mentioned in an early May show-cause letter from the ROS - the failure to hold the AGM for two consecutive years, 2007 and 2008, and failure to form any branches despite being in existence for 31 years.

“These were the only two points mentioned in the show-cause letter which we replied within the stipulated 30 day time-frame,” said Bagah in dispelling media reports on numerous complaints against the association.

“The ROS didn’t raise any other points against us. True, some disgruntled ex-members did lodge numerous reports against us with the ROS, the police and various other authorities. But none of these were in the show-cause letter.”

In a nutshell, a show-cause letter from the ROS requests a registered society to explain why it should not be deregistered for running foul of the Societies Act.

SCA now better known as CASH

Delving into the details of the deregistration briefly, Bagah recalled that the SCA had amended its constitution at its AGM on March this year.

Among others, the amendments substituted the name SCA with Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) and incorporated its long-used logo.

“Instead of approving the name change and logo, the ROS sent a show-cause letter,” noted Bagah with a tinge of irony in his voice.

In any case, SCA has been more popularly known since 1991 as Cash, the Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan, despite the latter name and logo being rejected then by the ROS.

No amendments were made to the association’s constitution then to incorporate the changes.

Cash, which is led by well-known consumer advocate Patrick Sindu, has gained a reputation locally and abroad for being extremely vocal on all issues and has long been seen as “a thorn in the side of the authorities” and its agenda fiercely questioned.

Bagah disclosed that meanwhile it will be business as usual for consumer activists in the deregistered SCA while the appeal process runs its course. He held out an olive branch “to all SCA rebels and ex-members to work together to save our association and not make Patrick Sindu the sole issue”.

Already in place since early this month, in anticipation of the deregistration, is the Pergerakan Pengguna Sabah dan Labuan or the Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash).

The new outfit is registered with the Kota Kinabalu City Hall and has been issued with a trading licence. Under Local Government Regulations, applicable in Sabah, a trading licence from a local authority is a must even when one is registered with the Registrar of Businesses or the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

“We are not doing business, only advising consumers and running non-profit consumer awareness programmes and activities,” said Bagah who is executive secretary of the new outfit. “So, there’s no need to register as a business in the absence of being registered with the ROS.

“Cash will run all programmes run previously by SCA or the old Cash.”

Vent fury against rival group

Bagah’s long-awaited clarification threw some welcome light on an otherwise murky picture which was getting worse by the minute in the local media.

kitingan project ic 250107 patrick sindu Hardly 24 hours ago, Sindu ( left ) had denied via a text message that his association had been issued with a show-cause letter. He also used the occasion to vent his fury on his sacked secretary-general Hashima Hasbullah Yahya and deputy president Nordin Thani.

Hashima had broken the news of SCA’s deregistration, kept under wraps by the association, to the local media.

“She’s no more with the association and only the ROS can do it (announce the deregistration). I have not received any letter (so far) from the ROS.”

Summing up, Sindu charged that “Hashima seems to know so much (about the deregistration) and this is all the work of high-powered people who want to destroy us”.

Both Hashima and Nordin have maintained that the sacking from their appointed posts was improper and illegal since they were not given the right to be heard.

The duo was summarily removed on Feb 6 this year and Sindu announced the decision at a press conference the same day. Hashima claims the sack decision was actually made by Sindu himself during the press conference in response to questions from reporters and that no prior executive committee meeting was ever convened to deliberate on the issue.

Numerous allegations against Sindu

Earlier, at a press conference at the Grace Point eateries, Hashima did not deny that the SCA’s deregistration follows the numerous complaints she lodged with the ROS against the consumer association.

She had complained that the SCA had not been operating since 1991 and/or otherwise operating as Cash and for other infringements of the Societies Act.

NONE Hashima showed reporters a copy of a March 19, 2009 ROS letter “which confirmed that the SCA of 1978 was the actual registered body and not Cash”.

Looking ahead, Hashima pledged that she and like-minded members may consider reviving the SCA provided that Sindu steps aside voluntarily.

“We still have time; 30 days from the date of deregistration, to appeal to the ROS to allow the association to be revived,” said Hashima. “But if (Sindu) is still there, it would be difficult for us to do so.”

It’s not known how Hashima’s faction plans to get their hands on SCA since the association mostly operates from part of Sindu’s house in Taman Sempelang, a residential suburb a stone’s throw from Grace Point.

Bagah disclosed the SCA also has a town office in the Kepayan suburb of Kota Kinabalu.

While Hashima apparently had inside news on the deregistration of SCA, she has been left wondering at the same time whether its beleaguered president, Sindu, has “blanket immunity from the various allegations leveled against him in public and in the media by members including herself”.

The alleged irregularities at SCA include, among others, Sindu packing the NGO with his family members, relatives, fellow kampung folks and friends.

Other allegations against Sindu are the soliciting and hiding of funds from members, misusing them, and he denying ever receiving federal government or overseas funding for the organisation.