KUALA LUMPUR – The constitutional provisions of the anti-party hopping law are clear, and MPs who cease to be party members violate the legislation, said former Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun.
This comes amid heightened tensions over his successor’s decision against vacating the seats of six MPs expelled from Bersatu.
Asserting that the matter hinges on whether or not the six lawmakers have ceased to be Bersatu members, Azhar, commonly known as Art Harun, emphasised that the law, enshrined under Article 49A of the Federal Constitution, addresses the issue.
“We need to look at and focus on the real issue, (which is) whether these six MPs had hopped in accordance with the definition of hopping under Article 49A(1)(a)(ii),” Azhar said when contacted by Scoop today.
“To answer that issue, we need to answer just one question: have they ceased to be Bersatu members?
“The article in question states that any MP who ceases to be a political party member of which he or she was a member during the election is considered to have hopped. That’s it.”
The anti-party hopping legislation, which was passed in October 2022 during Azhar’s tenure as the Dewan Rakyat speaker, stipulates that an MP’s seat will be vacated if the lawmaker in question resigns from their party, ceases to be a member of the party, or joins another political party.
However, the law does not address instances where an opposition MP switches support to the government without initially leaving their party, as done by the six turncoat Bersatu MPs, who have since been declared independent parliamentarians.
Azhar also declined to comment on the criticism his successor, Tan Sri Johari Abdul, has faced over his decision not to vacate the six seats, saying: “I don’t like to judge my predecessors or my successors in the offices I held. I won’t do so in this case either.
“All I’m expressing is my understanding of the law,” the lawyer added.
Previously, Bersatu president and Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin accused Johari of “tarnishing” the constitution by not vacating the seats held by the six MPs, who voiced their support for the government to secure constituency allocations.
Muhyiddin also said the party’s appointed legal experts would take the appropriate action to uphold the law and the party’s constitution by challenging Johari’s decision in court.
The six lawmakers in question are Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang), Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang), Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar) and Datuk Zulkafperi Hanafi (Tg Karang).
For the record, Azhar was the lead counsel for Bersatu in its judicial review at the high court, seeking to challenge Johari’s decision not to vacate four parliamentary seats in Sabah after the elected representatives switched support to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.
Azhar argued for the party that Johari has no jurisdiction to determine a Bersatu member’s membership status as the matter is the sole discretion of the party’s secretary-general.
The judicial review application was dismissed in November last year by high court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh, who ruled that the speaker’s decision as non-justiciable because the high court has no jurisdiction to question the speaker’s decision.
The appellate court has since fixed October 30 this year to hear the party’s appeal over the high court decision. – July 13, 2024