The 'newly elected leaders' of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) today appealed to the Selangor Registrar of Societies (ROS) not to de-register the party but to give the new leadership sufficient time to submit the necessary documents.

PRM 'newly-elected' president Hassan Abdul Karim said they told the ROS that they needed more time to retrieve the documents from the previous leadership.

"We also told ROS that a special PRM congress was held last week and why we did not agree to the dissolution of the party," he told reporters after a meeting with Selangor ROS officials in Shah Alam this afternoon.

He said that former leaders of the party should not be keeping the documents as they are no longer PRM members, adding that attempts to obtain the party papers from them had been futile so far.

Hassan warned that former PRM leaders are putting the party in danger of being dissolved by the ROS if they do not submit the returns.

According to him, PRM received a letter dated Feb 28 from the ROS asking former secretary-general Dr Sanusi Osman to submit the minutes and financial reports for the past three years. Failure to do so will cause the party to be de-registered.

PRM has merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional last May and the new entity is now known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Former PRM president Syed Husin Ali is now PKR deputy president while Sanusi is a supreme council member.

Congress in Johor

Last week, the splinter PRM group held a ' special congress ' in Johor Baru with the intention of 'reviving' the party.

The congress, attended by about 80 hard-core members, also elected a new line-up of the party.

Meanwhile, the 'newly elected' PRM secretary-general Song Sing Kwee appealed to the previous leadership to "act with conscience" by handing over the relevant documents.

"We wish to appeal to (former party president) Dr Syed Husin Ali and (former secretary-general) Dr Sanusi Omar in particular not to 'kill' the party," he said.

Song pointed out that since they are no longer PRM members but leaders of PKR, they do not have the right to dissolve the party.

"If they truly believe in democracy, they should respect the people's rights to organise and join a party or association of their choice," he added.

Selangor ROS director Mohd Yunus Jamil, when contacted, declined to comment on the matter.