8 theSun | FRIDAY MARCH 27 2009

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Dissolution may have

been illegal: Panel
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: The dissolution of
Balkis, the wives of Selangor elected
representatives charity and welfare
Because organisation, in March last year may
those have been illegal because there was
no quorum, a member of the Selan-
present
gor State Assembly’s Select Commit-
(at the tee on Competency, Accountability
dissolution and Transparency (Selcat) suggested
meeting) yesterday.
were not Azmin Ali (Bukit Antarabangsa)
ordinary said that according to Article 15(I) of
the Balkis constitution, the organisa-
members, tion cannot be dissolved without the
the approval of at least two-thirds of its
decision to ordinary members.
“Because those present (at the dis-
dissolve the
solution meeting) were not ordinary
organisation members, the decision to dissolve
was against the organisation was against the
the law.” law,” he said.
Azmin made his remarks when
– Azmin Ali the select committee was question-
ing state Registrar of Societies officer
Tairah Yusoff in its inquiry into ex-
cesses by Balkis.
“Why did ROS not take the
responsibility to advise Putrajaya
(the head office of ROS)?” he asked
Tairah.
“This is your function and respon-
sibility as a ROS state officer, as the
constitution of Balkis was approved
by the state ROS.”
State Assembly Speaker Teng
Chang Khim, who chaired the com-
mittee, also questioned Tairah on the
matter.
“If the state office knew that sev-
eral provisions were breached in the
dissolution, why did the state ROS
not advise the head office accord-
ingly? he asked.
“The members who attended the
meeting on March 11, 2008, were
illegal members. Why did the state
office keep quiet on this?”
Tairah replied: “This was the
process and we did not know the
rest. We looked at the constitution
and the quorum. We don’t know the
rest.”
Teng pointed out that it was
insufficient to merely assume quo-
rum was constituted based on mere
numbers.
“The quorum is more than just
numbers. One has to see the mem-
bership of the people in the quorum,
whether they are all valid members.
If they put in people who are not
members, does that make it a valid
quorum? It is not. You have to ex-
amine (the membership),” he said.
Teng said the change in the
state government after the March 8
general election had to be taken into
account.
“On March 8, you knew that the
previous ruling party had lost and
that 34 seats had changed hands.
That means 34 members (of Balkis)
had lost the right to be members.
That means out of the 70 who
attended (the meeting), 34 were
ineligible. That means there was no
quorum,” he said.
Azmin then told Tairah: “You tes-
tified that at the time, the new mentri
besar (Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim) had
not taken his oath of office yet. That
means there was some consideration
(by ROS) at the state level.
“If you could think that the
members (of Balkis) were valid as
Tan Sri Khalid had yet to be sworn
in, that means that a consideration
was made.”
He said the consideration was not
the right one and that the question
of whether the new mentri besar
had been sworn in was a matter of
procedure.
Azmin described the action of the
Selangor ROS as “political”, to which
Tairah disagreed.
“We do not go to that level of
detail,” she said. “We do not check
for the validity of members. I really
did not go to that level of detail and I
really did not know.”
She said the state assistant regis-
trar knew such details.
Teng then asked Tairah to provide
the details of the assistant registrar,
who would be called to testify on a
later date.
The other members of the select
committee are Taman Medan assem-
blyman Haniza Talha, Ulu Kelang
assemblyman Shaari Sungib, Bukit
Gasing assemblyman Edward Lee,
Dusun Tua assemblyman Ismail
Sani (BN) and Permatang assembly-
man Sulaiman Abdul Razak (BN).

Reports lodged against Samy and son

KUALA LUMPUR: Two reports were lodged
with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com-
mission (MACC) yesterday against MIC
president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and
his son Vell Paari over allegations in two
separate cases.
At about 3pm, Subang MP and PKR vice
president Sivarasa Rasiah led a group of
20 to the Selangor MACC in Shah Alam,
where a second report was lodged against
Samy Vellu for allegedly naming himself as
beneficiary to part of a plot of land allocated
for Effingham Tamil School in Damansara
Utama.
The complainant, P. Krishnan, a resident
representing the parents of children who at-
tend the school, said he had made a report
in December 2007, but since it appeared
that the MACC had not pursued the case, he
decided to lodge another report, this time
with “more proof”.
According to Bernama, Sivarasa said the
case involved three acres (1.2 ha) of prime
land originally alienated for the school.
He said the land was designated for pub-
lic use and should not be sold or transferred
to any individual or political party. Hence, it
was not suitable for the MIC to acquire it.
“We want Samy Vellu to do the right
thing by returning the balance of three
acres originally alienated for Effingham
Tamil School to the people,” he said.
“It was good of him to acknowledge
that it was an administrative error that had
resulted in his name being listed as the
beneficial owner of half of the land but it has
been almost six months since he apologised
and we now want him to rectify the mistake
and put things right.”
He said the school, which has about 600
student, has plans to build a kindergarten
on the additional land, otherwise they may
need to take up the playing field.
At the Kuala Lumpur MACC, Kapar MP
S. Manikavasagam and lawyer N. Surendran
lodged a report against Vell Paari, a former
head of Maika Holdings, over his testimony
at an inquest into the death of actress
K. Sujatha, in which he said he paid towards
the purchase of a car and house for her and
also for the education of her brothers.