Who is lying? Appeals Court Judge Gopal Sri Ram or the Registrar of Societies (ROS)?

This is the question posed by the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leadership after being informed by the Selangor ROS today that the party has never been registered.

PSM pro-tem chairperson Dr Nasir Hashim, secretary general S Arutchelvan and several supporters went to the Selangor ROS office this morning to seek clarification over the judgment made by Gopal last month.

On Aug 16, the Court of Appeal dismissed PSM's appeal to be registered as a national level political party.

In his judgment, Gopal - who was one of the three judges presiding over the case - stated that the party was granted registration in Selangor.

"The ROS granted PSM registration in the state of Selangor. As advised by counsel on both sides, this does not prevent PSM from contesting in national elections, neither is PSM prevented from seeking registration at the national level if it is able to meet the ROS' requirement," he said.

Gopal's judgement lit up the hope that the party could contest in the coming national election under its own logo.

Like a football

However, the hope was snuffed out today when Selangor ROS Mohd Yunus Jamil said his office never received any directions to register PSM.

According to Yunus, applications to register political parties are decided by the ROS national headquarters.

Other than acknowledging he has received PSM's application, he declined to state when he could provide a proper clarification on Gopal's judgment.

Commenting on this, PSM leaders likened the party's situation to a football being kicked about.

"The judgment makes us look stubborn, it is as if we had been registered at the state level but are not satisfied. Either the judge made a serious error or the ROS lied or gave the wrong information," said Arutchelvan.

"We are like football, being kicked here and there...someone has lied, and we have become victims," added Nasir.

PSM first applied to be registered as a political party in 1998 but this was turned down by the government. Since then, its leaders and supporters have been locked in a protracted struggle to be recognised.

On Jan 13, 2003, the Kuala Lumpur High Court agreed with the government's stand and rejected PSM's application for a judicial review.

No such thing

Although the Court of Appeal disagreed that national security was a predominant reason to reject PSM's registration, it however noted the ROS' requirement for a national-level political party to have representatives in at least seven states.

According to the ROS, PSM failed to meet this criteria.

The court also stated that no injustice has been occasioned in the government's decision to reject PSM's registration because it can still contest in the national election as a state level political party.

Meanwhile, Selangor ROS officials said besides those based in Sabah and Sarawak, political parties in the peninsular do not apply for state level status.

The Selangor ROS has never come across any such application before, they added.

Agreeing with this, Arutchelvan said: "From what we know, there is no state level party, but according to the judgement, there is."