KUALA LUMPUR – The four MPs from Sabah who quit Bersatu and do not think they need to vacate their seats were listed as party members in a letter to party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on candidates for the 15th general election (GE15).
This revelation by Beluran MP Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee yesterday means that the four were still members of Bersatu when contesting in the general election in November, despite their claims that they contested as (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah) GRS candidates.
As such, they may have violated constitutional provisions on the anti-party hopping law and could lose their seats.
Kiandee, who is now Sabah Bersatu chief, had read out the letter dated November 3 from the party’s state chapter to Muhyiddin during the Dewan Rakyat sitting yesterday.
“The letter titled 15th general election candidates list for GRS was for the attention of Tan Sri (Muhyiddin).
“GRS had on November 2 at the Magellan Sutera Ballroom announced its candidates and given them appointment letters (as election candidates).
“Attached is the list of candidates who will be contesting under the GRS logo for GE15. Firstly, P167 Kudat-Bersatu, P.175 Papar-Bersatu, P.178 Sipitang-Bersatu, P.179 Ranau-Bersatu, P.185 Batu Sapi-Bersatu, P.189 Semporna-Bersatu,” said Kiandee when reading out the letter’s contents during the Dewan Rakyat debate on the motion of confidence for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
His revelation adds to further suspense surrounding the status of the four MPs – Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Matbali Musah (Sipitang) – whose positions as lawmakers have been the subject of debate as to how the anti-hopping law applies to them.
The four MPs and others from GRS have said the law doesn’t apply, as the four contested the election under the coalition’s banner, and because they are direct GRS members.
The contrarian view, however, holds that the federal constitution provisions on anti-party hopping still apply even though the law mentions members of a “political party” and not a coalition. Thus, even though the four may be GRS members, they are still deemed to have contravened the anti-party hopping provisions by virtue of leaving Bersatu.
Among those who contend that the anti-hopping law does not apply, is former law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, the minister responsible in the previous government for overseeing the formulation and tabling of the law. He said “reliable sources” had told him that the four MPs had in fact, resigned from Bersatu in October and contested in GE15 under GRS.
However, in his speech at the Dewan Rakyat, Kiandee denied Wan Junaidi’s claim, saying the purported resignations in October were deliberately stated as such to “backdate and justify their actions”.
GRS leader and Keningau MP Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan also said the four should not be considered as having switched parties since they contested under GRS.
“This means that these MPs were GRS members on nomination day, not Bersatu members. There is no issue,” Kitingan said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday when debating the motion of confidence on Anwar.
Kiandee, however, yesterday noted that the letter sent by Sabah Bersatu to Muhyiddin bore the address of the party’s Sabah office at Alam Mesra, in Kota Kinabalu.
He also told the Dewan Rakyat that the Bersatu constitution itself deems the membership of any of its members to have been revoked once they join another party.
“Therefore, the action of anyone who leaves the party and later joins another could be seen as going against Article 10.2.3 of the Bersatu party constitution,” said Kiandee who became Sabah Bersatu chief replacing Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, the state’s chief minister, who had also quit the party.
Hajiji announced the exit of the Sabah lawmakers at the federal and state levels from Bersatu on December 10.
GRS was an alliance comprising Sabah Bersatu, Sabah STAR, Sabah Progressive Party, Parti Bersatu Sabah, and the United Sabah National Organisation.
GRS won six parliamentary seats in GE15, four of them via Bersatu.
Law experts, meanwhile, hold that it is the Dewan Rakyat speaker who has to determine whether the four Sabah MPs have to vacate their seats.
This process would include seeking clarity from Bersatu as to their status within the party, and also checking with the Registrar of Societies whether the four MPs have been deregistered as Bersatu members, National Council of Professors’ Governance, Law and Public Management Cluster chief professor Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood, was reported saying.
Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has said that the speaker will establish the vacancy of the four seats, but that the MPs must first provide a notice of vacancy to the speaker.
The Speaker then has 21 days to decide, and if there is a vacancy, to notify the Election Commission for a by-election to be held within 60 days.
Azalina also said she is waiting for the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ legal opinion on the matter.
Should the four MPs have to vacate their seats, it would not affect support for Anwar’s government, which has a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
However, if the four seats are deemed vacant, it would affect two cabinet appointments, namely that of Armizan as minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) and Khairul Firdaus as deputy minister of tourism. – The Vibes, December 20, 2022
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