The Daniel Tajem faction is puzzled why it has not received any official letter from Home Minister Azmi Khalid (pic) regarding last week's decision to deregister Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak.

"No, we have not received any letter from the home minister," said a spokesperson for the faction today.

The faction is supported by five of the party's 14 elected representatives, including Deputy Foreign Minister Joseph Salang.

When Azmi announced last week he had signed the deregistration papers, the faction said it wanted to know the grounds and subsequently added that the decision would be challenged in court.

The home minister said PBDS was deregistered, for the second time, because the two rival factions had failed to compromise and hold the triennial delegates conference (TDC) as decided by the Barisan Nasional technical committee.

Judicial review

Tajem, who was the party president, has since met with a panel of lawyers as the first step to apply for a judicial review of the decision if and when the official letter conveying the grounds for the deregistration is received.

They have another 42 days from the date of the deregistration to apply to the court to challenge the decision.

A source said the decision to do so would depend on the outcome of a meeting the faction has requested with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Although such a move, whatever its outcome may be, is not going to make any difference to the political situation as the rival group led by Dr James Masing has already formed their own party and in principle have already been accepted into the ruling coalition.

The home minister's decision, particularly the reasons given by him for the deregistration, has raised a lot of eyebrows.

Minister's power?

Responding to a question which arose over the past week as to whether Azmi has the power to deregister a registered society, one legal expert argued that the minister has no such power vested in him.

He said: "Section 5(1) of the Societies Act gives the minister the power to declare a society unlawful. But it must be that the society is used for purposes prejudicial to or incompatible with the interest of the security of Malaysia or any part thereof, public order or morality."

"Has there been a threat to the security of the country or not incompatible with public order or morality due to the leadership crisis in PBDS?" he asked.

Section 18 of the Societies Act is in respect of appeal of any local society who is aggrieved by the decision of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to the minister.

Any society, which has been de-registered by the ROS can file their appeal to the minister within 30 days. The minister, whose decision shall be final, may confirm, reject or vary the decision of the registrar.

The legal expert said in the PBDS case, the home minister had re-instated the party and then directed the party to hold the TDC (without any time- frame given).

The question, according to him, is whether the minister has the power to de-register PBDS after he had re-instated it.

"You must remember that the decision to re-instate PBDS by the minister "shall be final". If it is final, why does the minister vary his own decision at a later date?"

He said the key point is "the decision of the registrar" and not the decision of the minister itself. The question is whether the minister is vested with the power to confirm reject or vary his own decision.

He reminded that PBDS was deregistered because its TDC was not held in accordance with the Societies Act.

"It is for this reason that the Tajem faction had insisted of holding the TDC strictly based on its constitution and the Societies Act," he said.

Elected reps

Meanwhile, the elected representatives in the Tajem faction said they are considering the options of which party to join, including those outside Sarawak.

This means they do not precluded the possibility of joining such parties like Parti Bersatu Sabah, led by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Upko led by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Bernard Dompok, with whom they have close ties.

They have also sought an appointment to see the premier for advice on this matter.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.