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Political parties can now set dates for their branch, divisional and annual general meetings as the government has allowed for such activities to be held from July 1.

Umno, which has postponed all its branch and divisional meetings as instructed by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) will, however, wait for an official announcement from the authority before re-setting the dates.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he had contacted ROS director-general Masyati Ibrahim prior to the announcement to prepare the new dates for all the meetings.

“I know that the government has announced this but Umno will wait for official notification from the ROS on this matter,” Ahmad explained.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday said political parties could hold their annual general meetings after the government allowed for meetings, conferences and courses to be held.

At the onset of the movement control order, Umno’s 22,000 branches and 191 divisions postponed their meetings following a directive by ROS for political organisations not to hold any meeting until June 30.

Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary-general Datuk Jahid Jahim welcomed the announcement and said they would work on the new meeting dates.

The announcement also means that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia can hold its inaugural elections, which had to be postponed due to the movement control order (MCO).

The party’s election committee chairman, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, said the Bersatu supreme council would decide on the dates for the polls.

“The initial dates have been changed based on ROS’ directive to all political parties to postpone meetings.

“It is up to the supreme council to decide on the new dates,” he said.

Aside from political parties, the go-ahead is also given to other organisations registered with the ROS, companies registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia and cooperatives under the Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia.

This latest decision also allows bodies under the Registrar of Youth and the Sports Commissioner to hold meetings.

“We are aware that organisations must hold their AGMs by year-end,” Ismail Sabri said.

“The special Cabinet meeting has decided to allow this, provided that the standard operating procedure is to be followed strictly.

“This includes ensuring that attendance is not more than 250 people, social distancing is practised and attendees are to download the MySejahtera application.”

He said the attendees were also encouraged to use face masks while the organisers must provide hand sanitisers.

He added that the ROS had come up with the SOP which could also be used by other organisations for their AGMs.

Ismail Sabri said the National Security Council would decide today whether wedding receptions could be allowed during the recovery MCO period.

“There is a proposal and we need to discuss it in detail,” he said

He added that the meeting would discuss the SOP on wedding receptions.