SAPA chief Lina to hand over mins of AGM to ROS

KUCHING, Nov 18, 2014: Sarawak Association for People's Aspirations (SAPA) president Lina Soo said she will come to the State Registrar of Societies (ROS) office here tomorrow to personally hand over minutes of SAPA's annual general meeting held in Feb this year.

"We will submit our AGM minutes as requested and politely ask for a  letter to communicate the decision to us or in its stead, a copy of the gazetted notice from the home ministry," Lina said today.

"Either one document is sufficient for us to consider the next step," she said, adding that she will meet the press after meeting the ROS officer.

Lina (picture) said SAPA secretary Buln Ribos this morning received a call from  a "Puan Nor" of ROS Kuching.

"She wants a copy of our AGM minutes which was held in February 2014.

"I shall proceed to deliver personally the AGM minutes to ROS Kuching which is at King Centre.

"We shall cooperate with authorities as we have always done. Whether it is ROS, Home Ministry or the police, we respond to all contact and give our cooperation.

"I, Lina Soo, as the elected president of SAPA shall continue to uphold my duties as SAPA office-bearer, until we receive official letter in writing that SAPA has been de-registered for what reason," Lina said in a statement on SAPA Facebook.

"No minister or politician is above the law, and procedure must always be followed, no exception.

"We cannot easily be frightened by Home minister Zahid (Ahmad Hamidi). If we are easily intimidated, there will be no future for our future generations of Sarawak to look forward to.

"What we do today is for them, not for us. We shall do our best, it is our duty, our right, our aspirations , our country," she added.

The Home Ministry on Nov 14 had declared SAPA an illegal organisation for contravening section 5(1) of the Societies Act 1966,.

The ministry secretary general Mohamad Khalid Shariff  said SAPA has been organising activities which are deemed to be detrimental to  national security and public safety.

"Section 5 of the Societies Act (Act 335) gives power to the minister to declare an organisation as contravening the laws,"  Khalid said.

He said the minister, in accordance with his discretion, can declare an organisation or its branches as against the law if it is within his views that such organisation is a threat to national security and public safety.

SAPA's  assets, properties and accounts had been frozen and would be handed over to the Insolvency Department for further action.

SAPA was approved and registered by the ROS in November 2013 and has been carrying out its activities and it raised its profile with its U.N. Petition which was lodged with the United Nations Kuala Lumpur office in August 2014.

Over 20,000 signature has been collected in Sabah and Sarawak.