Kota Kinabalu: Papar Member of Parliament Datuk Armizan Ali said the judicial review filed by Bersatu against him and four others to vacate four parliamentary seats in Sabah came as no surprise.
“I think this is one of the possible actions of certain parties who do not want to see a local party movement (gaining hold) in Sabah,” Armizan said, referring to the current Borneo Bloc where local parties are leading the respective state governments, more so in Sabah. Sabah was previously led by parties based in the peninsula, namely Sabah Umno and later Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Bersatu. However, the Sabah chapter of Bersatu disengaged to form Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) which now forms the majority in the Sabah State assembly under Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor.SPONSORED CONTENT Increasing consumer awareness of Sabah’s chili brand in Singapore Kota Kinabalu: Borneo Hot Sauce, a maker of chilli sauce, wants to increase consumer awareness of its brand in Singapore after a good launch that saw 10,000 bottles sold in just six months. Read more The parties in the GRS coalition are GPRS, PBS, Star, SAPP, Parti Harapan Sabah, Usno and LDP. They are assisted by Unity Government partners PKR, DAP and Upko as well as Barisan Nasional’s PBRS, MCA and MIC.
Sabah Umno which is part of BN, Warisan and Parti KDM comprise the opposition in Sabah, although some Sabah Umno members are pro-GRS.
The five “Bersatu” members have aligned themselves with GRS. Under the Anti-Hop Bill that was passed at federal level, they would have to contest in by-elections if sacked by Bersatu. Sabah had yet to effect the Bill in the State Assembly.
Speaking at the Aidilfitri Open House hosted by the State Government at the Sabah International Convention Centre, Sunday, Armizan sees the action as an attempt to impede the movement of Sabah people to establish a local party.
On April 17, Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee and a public officer of the party, Datuk Captain (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, filed an application for leave to initiate the judicial review at the Kuala Lumpur High Court through the legal firm of Messrs Chetan Jethwani & Company.
Bersatu listed Johari and four MPs as the first to fifth respondents, namely Datuk Armizan (Papar), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau), and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang).
Bersatu is seeking an order to revoke a decision made by Johari in a letter dated January 16, which stated that the second to fifth respondents had clarified and confirmed that there was no vacant parliamentary seat based on Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition (GRS) and Bersatu’s interpretation of the constitution.
He added that he has yet to get the affidavit and that they would consult their legal team once they do.
Whether Bersatu has legal standing to challenge them, Armizan said “I think you should ask Ronald.” Ask him if the reasons he ran on the Perikatan Nasional ticket and we ran on the GRS ticket were the same or different.
“One of the things I believe he (Ronald) needs to clarify first is why he ran on the PN ticket and why we ran on the GRS ticket, is it the same or different? Let us all wait and see what the court decides,” he said.
When asked if he is prepared for a possibility of vacant seats, Armizan said, “I don’t think there will be vacant seats.”
“No matter what, we must respect our judicial system, and if a party takes it to court, we must respect and obey it, even if it has previously been decided by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker,” he added. The four GRS MPs were instructed in January that they did not have to quit their seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
They were informed of their status in a copy of an email sent from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul to Bersatu Vice-President Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee.
Kiandee had accused the four MPs of crossing the floor in violation of their election promise to voters as well as Bersatu’s constitution. The four MPs had been elected in the November general election on the GRS ticket, while Bersatu was then part of GRS.
However, after the general election, coalition leaders said they had left Bersatu en masse.
GRS supports the Unity Government formed by Pakatan Harapan Chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The four MPs were seated among government MPs when the Dewan Rakyat convened on Dec 19.
Bersatu, as part of Perikatan Nasional, is in the opposition bloc together with its main partner PAS.
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