PRs With Foreign Passports Cannot Lead Local Associations: Exec
By Shareen Han

Bandar Seri Begawan - A leader of a local association has pointed out that permanent residents (PRs) holding foreign passports should not be given a right to become a committee member in a local association, contradicting a lawyer's recent article on the issue.

Francis Law said in his article "PRs: Setting the Record Straight which was published on The Brunei Times on December 16, 2006, mentioned that the "government of Brunei would not, as a matter of policy, prevent PRs from actively participating in local Chinese associations by becoming their office bearers or committee members".

However, the president of a local association, who requested for anonymity, said here yesterday it was reasonable, that permanent residents with foreign passports should not become committee members. "In principle, permanent residents holding foreign passports should not be allowed to become committee members in a local association unless there is an unusual situation," the president said.

"The Registrar (of Societies) has recently issued a decree to local associations about this rule, so it is correct to say that the authority of local associations should be local," he said.

He further cited an example, saying: "If you are a permanent resident holding a foreign passport in Singapore or Malaysia, would they allow you to become a committee member in one of their local associations?"

"I think it is fair that permanent residents holding foreign passports should not be allowed to become a committee member of a local association. However, if it is a foreign association based in Brunei, such as a Singaporean or Malaysian association, then of course they can have their own residents to become their leader(s)," he added. He agreed with another leader of a local association, Yapp Boon Sing, that it was indeed true that a local association was allowed to apply and wait for approval from the Registrar if there was no Bruneian acting as its leader.

Yapp, chairman of Persatuan Kerjasama Kuang Hui, said that the issue of permanent residents holding foreign passports becoming committee members was complex and "confusing".

He told The Brunei Times that local associations had been facing the issue for quite a long time and currently, they were still waiting for more detailed clarification from the relevant authorities.

"The Registrar of Societies has told us that it is only when we run out of Brunei citizens to become committee members, then we are able to apply and wait for approval from the Registrar to become committee members," he said. "From what we have been told, even if permanent residents holding foreign passports are approved to become committee members, their membership period is limited only to between six months and one year," he added.

Yapp, who has just -resumed his responsibility as chairman of the association, said that his association currently had over 300 members, including 23 committee members.

Meanwhile, a prominent lawyer who serves as a legal adviser in a number of local Chinese associations said that only the Registrar of Societies could verify-the rules based on his/her interpretation.

"A lot of the local Chinese associations that I am part of encountered this problem before, but they have solved it in one way or another," said the lawyer, speaking on anonymity.

He declined to give further comment on the grounds that any issue related to a government policy could only be answered by the relevant authorities. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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