UPP submits application to change name, logo to RoS
KUCHING: United People’s Party ( UPP) has submitted its formal application to change its name and logo to the Registrar of Societies ( RoS).
The application was submitted through the Sarawak RoS office here yesterday.
On hand to receive the formal application from UPP secretary general George Lo and executive secretary Margaret Fong was Sarawak RoS director Georgina Apphia Ngau.
UPP on December 8 announced that it changed its name to Parti Sarawak Bersatu ( PSB) after delegates attending the extraordinary delegates conference ( EDC) gave their unanimous support to amend its constitution.
Lo, when met by reporters after a meeting with Georgina, said UPP must follow the legal procedure under the Societies Act, which states that a party’s name and logo can only be changed upon approval of the RoS.
“So legally at the moment, we are still UPP. We can use PSB after the RoS has approved it,” he said.
He said during the meeting they asked the Sarawak RoS director to kindly expedite the sending of their application to the RoS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
He hoped the RoS head office would be able to approve the change of UPP’s name and logo very quickly so that the party can start to use the new name and new logo.
“The Sarawak RoS director told us just now that political parties are not under RoS Sarawak; it is under the headquarters and so she can only help by passing our application over there. Hopefully it can be approved.
“She (the director) also told us that if we go through the computer system for the application of amendment, normally it will take 23 days.
“But because it is manually done, it could be shorter and may be longer. So it is very hard to say,” he said.
He said the director also told them that she needed to check whether the name Parti Sarawak Bersatu ( PSB) had been taken by any other society, adding that he hoped there is no other society registered under that name.
Lo also informed that UPP had not made any formal application to join Gabungan Parti Sarawak ( GPS), a coalition consisting of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu ( PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP), at this stage.
“I think we should await the approval of our new name and new logo. Let the rebranding exercise be completed first.
“I don’t think there is any rush at this point in time. As the Chief Minister said, let’s cross the bridge when we come to it. So we are taking things one at a time,” he said.
UPP was formed by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and his supporters after they left SUPP in 2014 following a leadership tussle.
So legally at the moment, we are still UPP. We can use PSB after the RoS has approved it. George Lo, UPP secretary general