Penang govt has seized people’s mandate by declaring seats vacant, claims rep

March 11, 2023

Penang govt has seized people’s mandate by declaring seats vacant, claims rep

KUALA LUMPUR: The Penang government has seized the mandate given by the people to declare the four vacant seats at the state assembly, claims Bertam assemblyman Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq.

The Penang assembly had approved the motion to declare vacant the seats of four assemblymen in the state recently.

The assemblymen, namely Dr Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya), Zulkfili Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh), Khaliq Mehtab and Zolkifly Md Lazim (Teluk Bahang), were also ordered to leave the state assembly sitting at midday after the majority of the assemblymen voted in favour of the motion.

“We have tried our best to serve our people; only the people can remove us,” he said during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Khaliq described the Penang assembly’s move to table and passed a motion to remove them after they had previously withdrawn their support for the administration, as an “abuse of power” and “clearly politically motivated”.

He said there were three scenarios to party jumping, as mentioned in the amendment to the state constitution: party jumping, dismissal from the party and declaring oneself as an independent representative.

“None of these scenarios affected Teluk Bahang or me, and Zulkifli and Dr Afif, who were PKR members when they were elected, have since been sacked by the party,” he added.

The four reps also questioned the move to remove them, as the state assembly will be dissolved in June.

Dr Afif claimed the Penang government was afraid of Perikatan Nasional as the coalition was gaining more support and Pakatan had lost its parliamentary stronghold in Permatang Pauh in the 15th General Election.

On Dec 16 last year, the Federal Court bench chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat dismissed a leave application by the four assemblymen to challenge the competency of the state legislative assembly to pass an anti-hopping law.

The four assemblymen had also filed the suit in 2020 to challenge the constitutionality of Article 14A(1) of the Penang State Constitution and to stop their seats from being declared vacant under Article 14A(1).

According to Article 14(A) of the Penang Constitution, a state assemblyman must vacate his seat if he resigns, is stripped of his membership, ceases to be a politician or is chosen as a candidate by another political party.

The four assemblymen won their seats in GE14 on a Pakatan ticket.

They were all deemed to have “lost” their seats after Bersatu left Pakatan – following the Sheraton Move in February 2020 – based on the anti-hopping provision in Article 14A of the state constitution.

With the four seats vacated, PAS’ Penaga assemblyman Yusni Mat Piah is now the sole Perikatan representative in the state assembly.