Penang should withdraw motion to disqualify us from our seats, Bersatu reps say after Federal Court decision

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 4 — The Penang state government should withdraw its motion to disqualify the four Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia assemblymen from their seats, the representatives said in a joint statement today.

The four assemblymen pointed out that the Penang chief minister has said the state government intended to bring the state constitution in line with the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution.

"If the Penang state government is genuine in its claim and in the spirit of bipartisanship, we believe that the motions to disqualify us should be withdrawn,” they said.

"This is simply because under the proposed amendments we would not be subject to these disqualifications,” they added.

The four Penang state assemblymen, Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam), Zolkifli Md Lazim (Teluk Bahang), Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh) and Dr Afif Bahardin (Sebarang Jaya) issued the statement following the Federal Court declaration yesterday that the state’s anti-party hopping law is constitutional and a valid law.

In its decision yesterday, the Apex court states that "Article 14A of the Penang State Constitution is not void as it is not inconsistent with Article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution”.

Article 14A(1) of the state constitution provides that a member of the legislative assembly shall vacate his seat if having been elected as a candidate of a political party, he resigns or is expelled from or ceases to be a member of the party.

The four assemblymen had challenged Article 14A of the Penang state constitution as they believed that the provision is open to abuse.

"The provision is wrongfully being used against us,” they claimed.

While they respect the decision of the Federal Court, they disagreed with it.

"We have never defected or changed our party allegiance,” they stressed.

They explained that two of them, namely Khaliq and Zolkifli, were elected on the Bersatu platform and have continued to remain with Bersatu.

The other two, Dr Afif and Zulkifli, were expelled from PKR for making statements which were perceived as being critical of the party leadership, they claimed.

"As we understand it, the decision of the Federal Court is premised on narrow grounds,” they said.

"We have instructed our solicitors to review the matter to enable us to discharge our duties as lawfully elected assemblymen,” they added.

They believed that political parties should not have absolute control to dictate the decisions of assemblymen.

"As elected representatives, we represent all the people of our constituency whether they voted for our party or not and we will continue to make decisions based on what we feel are in the best interests and needs of our constituents and not just on party demands,” they said.

The four state assemblymen had filed an Originating Summons against the Penang State Assembly and State Assembly Speaker to challenge the constitutionality of Article 14A(1) of the Penang State Constitution, and to stop the four seats concerned from being declared vacant pursuant to Article 14A(1).

The Penang State Legislative Assembly (PSLA) and Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang then posed a legal question to the Federal Court on whether Article 14A of the Penang state constitution is void for being inconsistent with Article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.

The Federal Court delivered its decision on the question yesterday.

Immediately after the decision yesterday, Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state exco would meet tomorrow to deliberate on the next course of action.