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POLITICIANS must stop triggering by-elections for their own gain when such contests costs the people a lot of money, a senior lawyer said.
The country must now focus on austerity and reviving the economy instead of fighting over the six Bersatu seats that are currently under dispute, said S. Raveentharan.
Each by-election costs a substantial amount of money, the former Batu Uban assemblyman said in an interview.
"I believe in rights and democracy, but we should not exploit the freedom we have earned to pursue selfish aims... There is a time to play politics and there is a time to serve. Think of the people and nation first. Let us not become demo-crazy."
A former PKR deputy secretary-general, Raveentharan urged Bersatu to stop pressuring the Election Commission (EC) to vacate the six state seats.
He urged Bersatu to resolve the issue with their six representatives internally instead of sacking them and forcing parliament or state assembly to vacate the seats.
"If necessary, (the six elected representatives) can be sacked from the party but as long as they did not quit on their own accord to join (another party), the issue should be left as it is, pending perhaps a Federal Court decision on the anti-party hopping legislation," said Raveentharan.
The law states that when an elected representative quits his party to join another party, the individual could be stripped of his seat.
"In the case of the Bersatu six, they didn't quit the party, they had just opted to declare support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Utama Anwar Ibrahim in return for development funds for their respective constituencies." – June 30, 2024.
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