The Home Affairs Ministry must define what it meant by 'national security' since it had rejected Parti Sosialis Malaysia's application to be registered on that ground, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

PSM protem secretary S Arutchelvan said their legal counsel, R Kesavan, argued that it was it was unfair to compare the party to organisations like the Al-Maunah, the Malaysian Mujahiddin Group (KMM) and al-Qaeda.

"We sent so many letters to the authorities seeking clarification on our application. This shows that we are interested in becoming a legal political party," said Arutchelvan when contacted.

"We felt that using national security as a ground to reject us is an afterthought," he added.

Unthinkable situation

Yesterday, senior federal counsel Zainal Adzam Abd Ghani told the court that the home minister had "absolute discretion" to reject an application and can overrule decisions made by the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

He added if the minister was advised by the police that a particular entity was "incompatible with the interest and security of Malaysia" then he is duty-bound under the Societies Act (1966) to reject the application.

"Otherwise, it would mean that the minister must approve applications even by known terrorist groups. Is that the situation we want? It is an unthinkable situation," argued the lawyer.

Zainal had submitted against an application by PSM protem committee president Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, who is asking the court to set aside a decision and a mandamus order made on September 1999 where PSM's application to register as a political party under Section 7 of the Societies Act, was rejected by the ministry and ROS.

[Mandamus order is an order from a higher court which can be used to cause a lower court to enter an order instead of continuing to sit on a case].

Zainal argued that if PSM had intended to be a nationwide political party, then from the outset, it should at least be able to provide the required representation.

Interest indicated

Meanwhile, Arutchelvan said the PSM counsel informed the court today that by sending various letters and appearing in person at the registrar's office, the party had indicated its interest to pursue the matter.

The lawyer also argued that the policy imposed by the ROS was not in accordance to the Societies Act or the Federal Constitution.

Arutchelvan said the guidelines provided by the ROS's office did not state anywhere that the party needed to submit seven representatives from seven states.

PSM and the Home Affairs ministry have been embroiled in a legal tussle since October 1999 after its application to operate as a legal political party was rejected by the ROS in April 1998.

Since Nov 2000, the Attorney-General's chambers has requested for the case to be settled out of court but the government later revoked this offer.

Hearing ended today and Judge Abdul Hamid Said has reserved judgement on a date to be fixed later.

Also representing PSM was lawyer-cum DAP Youth chief Teng Chang Khim.