Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
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[1] Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia) (also known as PSM), is a political party in Malaysia. PSM had been denied registration by the ruling government. The reason was that PSM is a threat to the National Security. Although the Court of Appeal dismissed the National Security argument on 16 August 2006, which the court felt was a bad reason, it upheld another reason to deny PSM the right to be registered. This was that the party did not comply with a seven state regulation. PSM had filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal decision to the Federal Court.
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[edit] The Beginning
Since 1991, several grassroots based organizations working with the urban and rural poor in Malaysia started to form an alliance. In 1994, they staged a massive demonstration at the heart of Kuala Lumpur surprising many people. The last major demonstration called by the working class in the capital city goes way back two decades ago.
In 1995, these grassroots organization who already had their strong bases among the plantation workers, urban poor slums and industrial workers formed an alliance and together the idea to form a political party to represent the aspirations of the poor and the marginalized was mooted. The election results in 1995 hastened this process and after years of discussion and consolidations, it was finally agreed that a party with socialist ideology was imminent to liberate the masses from their current conditions.
With this in mind, the groups took more than two and the half years to draft the party's constitution, which was ready by the end of 1997. After further consultation with the masses, on May 1st 1998, the new party known as the Socialist party Of Malaysia was officially put for registration.
The last socialist party to exist in Malaysia, Malaysian Peoples Socialist Party (PSRM) stripped the word "socialist" from their name and constitution in 1990. The party in recent years had merged with National Justice party. The decision of PSRM to abandon socialism from its constitution perhaps left Malaysia for the first time without a left based political party.
[edit] PSM's Strength
PSM though is only eight years old; nevertheless its working experience with the masses goes back more than fifteen years. Over the years, the party's three main front organizations had established more than a hundred sub-fronts. PSM strength lies in its work done with the masses especially the plantation workers, the urban poor, the Industrial workers and the peasants. The party also collaborates with the progressive student movement.
PSM remain today perhaps the only party in Malaysia taking a class line and highlighting the plight of the poor from low wages, forceful eviction to retrenchment. The party has also made some inroads into organizing union in the last two year and have working committees in around 50 factories throughout the country. While civil and political protest are carried out by the main stream political parties, PSM continues to support and organize pickets, strike and demonstration among the working class.
[edit] Legal Status
The Malaysian State has refused to recognize PSM. The ruling party has rejected the party's application to register as a political party citing that PSM is a threat to national Security. While PSM activities have been transparent and open confrontation, the ruling party seems uneasy to see a socialist party in its backyard.
The right to form a political party is a constitutional right and PSM became the first party in Malaysia's history to take the ruling party and the Home Minister to court for abusing their power. Below is the time line of PSM's registration process.
| DATE | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 30th April 1998 | PSM makes formal application to the Registrar of Societies to form a political party after 5 years of internal discussion between grassroots groups and progressive individuals. |
| 31st December 1998 | After many correspondence, letters, inquiries and after the Registrar failed to register PSM within 6 months, PSM submits a complaint to the Director General of the Societies Registration Department questioning the delay. |
| 21st January 1999 | Another reminder letter was send. |
| 4th February 1999 | PSM receives a letter dated 27th January 1999 from the Societies Registration Department stating that the application has been rejected. No reasons were given. |
| 23rd February 1999 | PSM makes an appeal to the Home Ministry under Section 18-Societies Act (1966). |
| PSM sends letter to Ministry on 7 April 1999, 9 June 1999, 14 July 1999 and on 23 July 1999, asking on the status of the appeal | |
| 5th August 1999 | PSM makes a complaint to the Public Complaints Bureau under the Prime Minister’s Department on the inefficiency of the Home Ministry in processing PSM’s appeal. |
| 23rd September 1999 | PSM received letter signed by the Chief Secretary of the Home Ministry dated 15th September 1999 stating that PSM’s appeal has been rejected and this decision is final. Again no reasons were given. |
| 26th October 1999 | PSM made history for being the first party to challenge the Ministry’s decision in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. PSM’s lawyers for the case is Counsel Tommy Thomas, Ragu Kesavan and Teng Chang Khim (later Amer Hamzah joined the team). The Home Minister then, and who is the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave two reasons in his affidavit on why PSM’s application was rejected. This was the first time the party got an official respond. He said that PSM did not fulfil requirements and based on feedback from the police, the party is a threat to National Security and this information cannot be revealed in the name National Interest. |
| 21st March 2000 | PSM won first round when Justice K.C.Vohrah allowed for leave on the application. The case was postponed several times on the 8th August 2000, 22nd November 2000, 13th December 2000, 28th February 2001, 16th January 2002 and, 4th June 2002. |
| 31st October 2002 | PSM launches signature campaign to apply pressure to register the party. |
| 13th November 2002 | Case starts and goes on the 26 and 27th of November 2002. |
| 13th January 2003 | PSM loses case in High Court. Justice Abdul Hamid Said rejected PSM’s application with cost. He maintained that National Security is the responsibility of the executive government and the responsibility does not rest in the courts of justice. |
| 7th February 2003 | PSM file an appeal to the Appeals Court. |
| 28th January 2004 | A notice of urgency was filed |
| 27th July 2004 | Another notice for an urgent date was filed. |
| 26th Mac 2005 | 36 Organization including major Human Rights Groups, Grassroots Coalition and MTUC called for PSM to be registered. A memorandum was submitted to Azmi Khalid, the Home Affairs Minister. |
| 15th November 2005 | A demonstration was held at the Palace of Justice and a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim. Ten days after that, a date for case management was given. |
| 8th December 2005 | Case Management. |
| 10th April 2006 | Case adjourned to 12th April 2006. |
| 12th April 2006 | The Court of Appeal reserved the judgment. |
| 16th August 2006 | The Court of Appeal rejected PSM's appeal and upheld the High Court decision on 13th January 2003 which denied PSM’s right to be registered as a Political party. |
| 5th October 2006 | PSM filed an appeal to the Federal Court against the Appeals Court decision. |
The state harsh treatment to PSM though is a problem but the Party continues to function and carry out its program.
[edit] Election in 1999
In 1999, the party decided to contest in the general election. Since PSM was not registered, it had to contest under some other party's logo. In 1999, the candidates contested with Democratic Action Party's (DAP) logo. The main intention was to popularize the party. The party lost in its seat but managed to reduce the opponent's majority by 10,000 votes.
[edit] Election in 2004
In the year 2004, PSM had to contest on the logo of another party, Parti Keadilan Nasional (now known as Part Keadilan Rakyat). Below is the election result of PSM candidates:
| Area: P107 SUBANG (PARLIMENT SEAT), SELANGOR, MALAYSIA | ||
|---|---|---|
| CANDIDATE'S NAME | POLITICAL PARTY | TOTAL VOTE |
| Dr K S Nijhar | Barisan Nasional (BN) - Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) | 32941 |
| Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim | Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) | 17481 |
| Registered Voters | 67720 | |
| Majority | 15460 | |
| Total Vote cast | 51485 | |
| Spoilt Vote | 1063 | |
| % Votes Cast | 75.7 | |
| Berita Harian: http://www.bharian.com.my/Misc/Pilihanraya2004/selangor |
| Area: N37 BUKIT LANJAN (STATE SEAT), SELANGOR, MALAYSIA | ||
|---|---|---|
| CANDIDATE'S NAME | POLITICAL PARTY | TOTAL VOTE |
| Yong Dai Ying | Barisan Nasional (BN) - Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN) | 11460 |
| Panneerselvam Varathan | Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) | 3121 |
| Registered Voters | 19986 | |
| Majority | 8339 | |
| Total Vote cast | 14895 | |
| Spoilt Vote | 314 | |
| % Votes Cast | 74.1 | |
| Berita Harian: http://www.bharian.com.my/Misc/Pilihanraya2004/selangor |
| Area: P62 SUNGAI SIPUT (PARLIMENT SEAT), PERAK, MALAYSIA | ||
|---|---|---|
| CANDIDATE'S NAME | POLITICAL PARTY | TOTAL VOTE |
| S Samy Velu | Barisan Nasional (BN) - Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) | 18797 |
| Dr Michael D Jeyakumar | Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) | 8562 |
| Samugam Ponmugam Ponam | Democratic Action Party (DAP) | 2864 |
| Registered Voters | 46783 | |
| Majority | 10235 | |
| Total Vote cast | 30806 | |
| Spoilt Vote | 583 | |
| % Votes Cast | 66.0 | |
| Berita Harian: http://www.bharian.com.my/Misc/Pilihanraya2004/perak |
| Area: N22 JALONG (STATE SEAT), PERAK, MALAYSIA | ||
|---|---|---|
| CANDIDATE'S NAME | POLITICAL PARTY | TOTAL VOTE |
| Chang Ko Youn | Barisan Nasional (BN) - Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN) | 9780 |
| Kunasekaran Krishnan | Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) | 3638 |
| Ding Chin Aik | Democratic Action Party (DAP) | 2928 |
| Registered Voters | 24998 | |
| Majority | 6142 | |
| Total Vote cast | 16781 | |
| Spoilt Vote | 435 | |
| % Votes Cast | 67.1 | |
| Berita Harian: http://www.bharian.com.my/Misc/Pilihanraya2004/perak |
