Perikatan Nasional has accused the government of abusing power and acting in bad faith (mala fide) over the Registrar of Societies' announcement today that the coalition had been deregistered.

Coalition secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan also questioned why the decision could not wait for Thursday's court hearing on PN's application to stay the deregistration order.

"A government that is confident in the lawfulness of its actions should be prepared to defend that decision before a judge, rather than altering the position of the parties when a stay application is about to be heard," he said.