Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who is also Chairman of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), is confident Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul will make the best decision regarding the four GRS Members of Parliament (MPs) who were alleged to have breached the Anti-Hopping Law.
Hajiji is also confident that the four MPs – Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, Datuk Jonathan Yasin, Datuk Matbali Musah and Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan – are not affected by the legislation that came into effect last September.
“It is up to the Speaker to make the decision. Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) has submitted a petition. On our part, the four MPs have also submitted their petitions to the Speaker.
“There is a lot of speculation out there, macam-macam (many different stories). But we who are inside know the sequence of events, what had happened.
“I am confident the Speaker will make the best decision. Because they (the four MPs) have already fulfilled, until they will not be affected by the Anti-Hopping Law,” he said. Bersatu had submitted a notice to the Speaker about unexpected vacancies in the four parliamentary seats.
The four MPs left the party en bloc on Dec 10 last year but remained under GRS. They all were elected as MP under the GRS ticket in the recently concluded 15th General Election (GE15).
Last Thursday, Johari had said the status of the four MPs who quit Bersatu remains unchanged for now and that their seats have not been left vacant.
He said he received a notice from Bersatu to confirm that there have been unexpected vacancies in the four parliamentary seats on Dec 27.
“(But) I have to really look into this first...the decision on the status of the four MPs will be announced after 21 days,” he said, when contacted.
Bersatu Vice-President Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee, in a statement Thursday, said the party has sent a notice to the Dewan Rakyat about the unexpected vacancies of the four parliamentary seats, which were occupied by its former leaders.
Meanwhile, Hajiji said the new party for former Bersatu Sabah leaders would be announced soon.
Bersatu Sabah was a former component parties of GRS which is now left with four component parties, namely Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star), Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and United Sabah National Organisation (Usno).
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