No vacancies: Malaysia Speaker rules opposition MPs can keep seats despite backing PM Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s parliamentary Speaker, Johari Abdul, has ruled that six MPs who were deemed by the opposition Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to have left the party after pledging support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have not breached anti-party hopping laws (APHL) and will retain their parliamentary seats.
The decision, conveyed to Bersatu late on July 9 in letters seen by The Straits Times, safeguards Datuk Seri Anwar’s two-thirds supermajority in Parliament by averting by-election in the six constituencies.
But the decision pushes Malaysia to the brink of a constitutional crisis, as it runs counter to a June 19 ruling by Tan Sri Johari’s counterpart in Kelantan that Nenggiri assemblyman Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, who is one of the six, had to vacate his seat in the state legislature after Bersatu said he had ceased to be a member of the party.
The Nenggiri by-election will be held on Aug 17.
Malaysia’s APHL states that elected representatives who are no longer members of the party under which they were elected are deemed to have vacated their seats, except in cases where they are sacked or the party is dissolved.
Mr. Azizi, who is also Gua Musang MP, was deemed to have left the party along with five other Bersatu parliamentarians in June after they failed to retract their backing for Mr. Anwar. This was in line with changes to party rules approved in April.
The changes to Bersatu’s Constitution that void the membership of an elected representative for failing to adhere to party directives mirror those of ruling parties in the multi-coalition government, such as Umno, Parti Amanah Negara, and the Democratic Action Party.
The decision by Mr. Johari, a close ally of Mr. Anwar and a senior official in the Premier’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat until his appointment as Speaker, comes hot on the heels of the government’s defeat at the Sungai Bakap by-election on July 6, where the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition retained the Penang state legislative seat by a wider margin.
The voters in the six seats held by the former Bersatu MPs are largely from the Malay majority, a demographic dominated by the PN.
But the ruling undermines the APHL, which Mr. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition lobbied hard to implement before the November 2022 general election, and casts further doubt on the PH-led government’s commitment to reforms.
“The Speaker’s decision using flimsy excuses and misinterpretations has transgressed the Federal Constitution,” former prime minister and Bersatu leader Muhyiddin Yassin said on July 10 in response to the Speaker’s decision.
He referred to Mr. Johari’s speech on July 27, 2022, when debating the bill to enact the APHL in Parliament, where the then Sungai Petani MP said, “This is the only legislation that can stop us from destroying our country. Regardless of whether on this (opposition) or that (government) side, these (defections) must end here.”
“The fact is, the Speaker himself has betrayed the spirit and intention of the constitutional amendment to stop party hopping,” the PN chairman said, adding that Bersatu will seek further legal advice.
