GEORGE TOWN: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) state government will table a motion at the next state legislative assembly sitting to compel two Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) elected representatives, who withdrew their support for the administration recently, to vacate their seats.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the move was in line with Section 14A of the Penang Constitution where any defecting elected representative was required to vacate their seat.
Last Saturday, Bertam's Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq and Teluk Bahang's Zolkifly Md Lazim voiced their support for Bersatu, under Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's leadership.
Following the move, they are now opposition elected representatives in the state. Their withdrawal of support had no significance as PH still holds 35 out of the 40 seats in the state assembly.
Penang has its own anti-hopping law enacted by the state assembly back in 2012.
Speaking at a press conference at the state DAP headquarters, here, this afternoon, Chow said although Khalid and Zolkifly could insist they had not defected, Bersatu had announced its decision to leave PH.
Penang, according to him, is a PH state and the status is very clear.
Chow added that Khaliq and Zolkifly could still be removed if they refused to step down.
"Although the Penang Constitution says they must step down on their own, failing which and by convention, it can be done through a motion tabled in the House.
"If the motion can be carried by the majority of the House, then the Speaker can announce that the seats have been considered vacant because the motion has been supported," he added.
To a question if Penang is determined to enforce the anti-hopping law, Chow said it was part of the Penang Constitution.
He added that though there was a precedent in 1992, and the Federal Court had at the time ruled that the law was unconstitutional as it contravened Article 10 of the Freedom of Association, it has been almost 30 years now.
The 1992 Federal Court decision involving a Kelantan state assemblyman had made party-hopping legal. The 1992 case revolved around Pas' own anti-hopping rule. Nordin Salleh, a Pas elected representative, was sued by the state government for crossing over to Umno.
But the court ruled that Nordin had freedom of association under Article 10 of the Constitution.
"If there is a case before the court, this will give a new opportunity to the court to interpret the constitution. If you look at the Hansard when the former Penang chief minister presented the amendment, it was clearly an action to ensure that the functions of parliamentary democracy be upheld.
"As so many state governments were toppled recently because of political defections, this is an opportune time for the country and the court to interpret this in light of the political defections, which are threatening the functions of parliamentary democracy. This is something the court will have to decide if there is a case brought before them," Chow stressed.
He, however, said the two could still challenge the matter in court.
Whether this will trigger by-elections, Chow said the process would be taken one step at a time.
"If the vacancies occur two years before the next General Election, and if there is a need, then by-elections will be held.
"However, if it occurs less than two years before the next GE, under electoral laws, there is no need for by-elections to fill the vacancies. All this will depend on the timing," he added.
Chow also said that both Khaliq and Zolkifly had never contacted him personally to convey their decisions, except through the media.
Earlier, Chow said the Penang PH Leadership Council, in a meeting yesterday, decided that following the latest development, Khaliq and Zolkifly were no longer part of the state government along with Seberang Jaya assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin.
On March 3, Dr Afif resigned as a state executive council member, stressing that he had done s
o after accepting views and advice from Chow.
Dr Afif had also admitted to being pressured to do so by the party leadership at the national and state levels after the internal political crisis within the party.
Meanwhile, Chow said to manage and coordinate programmes and government business at the three state seats, the state government had agreed to appoint three "Adun angkat" ("foster" representatives) to oversee matters in the affected state seats.
Bertam will be managed by Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman, Teluk Bahang by state PKR chief Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik and Seberang Jaya by Permatang Pauh member of parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar.