Ambiga Sreenevasan has emphasised that due process must take place with regard to Umno's status as opposed to using the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

“We must respect due process. What I wouldn't like is the ROS, perhaps being used in that process.

“We need a strong opposition as much as we need a good government. So whatever happens to Umno, I think due process must be followed.

“But at the end of the day, whichever form they are, a good opposition is as important as a good government,” she told BFM this morning.

The National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president hopes the government's treatment of the opposition would be different compared to before.

“And I hope we will not have this nonsense we had previously where the opposition was treated as the enemy,” she said.

Ambiga said the government must remember that the people had voted for the members of the opposition and this must be respected.

“I hope this government will show it is a government for all, including Umno members..,” she added.

Umno's last party election was in October 2013, which means the three-year limit imposed by its own constitution, has been exceeded.

However, some provisions do allow the party to delay its elections, but only for up to a maximum of 18 months.

Based on this, 16 Umno members, who were subsequently sacked, to seek a judicial review to quash the ROS' decision to allow Umno a time extension to hold its party elections at all levels.

Umno and BN were ousted from power in the May 9 general election after six-decades of uninterrupted rule.

Following the shocking defeat, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak resigned as both heads of Umno and BN.

The party is now headed by former deputy premier Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Meanwhile, Ambiga also urged Harapan to allow PAS, which won 18 parliamentary seats and two states, to participate in reforms of the federal government.

"You don't discount PAS, which has a huge following. They stood with us shoulder to shoulder in many Bersih rallies and we made friends with their members.

"You may not agree with the leadership but there are many PAS members that we can work with. So, we must bring them into this journey on reforms. We can't treat them as people who don't matter," she added.