KUALA LUMPUR: The expulsion of five Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Members of Parliament is politically-motivated and illegal, as it was not done in accordance with the party's constitution.
The parliamentarians, in a joint statement last night, said they reject their termination as they were not given a chance to defend themselves.
The five are Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Langkawi), Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun), Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muar), Dr Maszlee Malik (Simpang Renggam) and Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu).
"Clearly, the president's office is playing politics during the Covid-19 outbreak as well as an economic recession. This shows the president's dictatorial inclinations.
"We also wish to state that the Bersatu president's unilateral action to sack us without a valid reason is because of his anxiety in facing the party election, as well as his insecure position as the most unstable prime minister in our country's administrative history," they said.
Yesterday, letters of termination for the five, signed by Bersatu executive secretary Captain (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, were shared with the media.
In the letters, the reason given for the sackings was the quintet's decision to sit with the opposition bloc during the May 18 Dewan Rakyat sitting, and not showing support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Bersatu president.
According to Suhaimi, their expulsion was based on Article 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 of the Bersatu constitution – but based on a quick check, the two articles do not state that a member can be expelled if he or she sits on the other side of the Dewan Rakyat.
Article 10.2 of the Bersatu constitution states that the membership of a person is automatically revoked if he declares that he has left the party (10.2.2) or if he becomes a member of another political party in this country (10.2.3).
This issue was also raised by the five MPs, who described the rationale for their termination as "preposterous and illogical", since they had never made a declaration that they have left the party.
They said the letters that were sent to them showed that the Bersatu secretariat is in disarray, as they were signed by an individual who has no power to do so.
"The actions of an executive secretary sending such letters to the people who are among Bersatu's founders is distasteful and rude.
"We will ensure Bersatu returns to the right path and not used by certain quarters who are greedy and power hungry.
"To all Bersatu MPs, we call on you to look at the state of our party and how we have lost power in several states.
"We have become like toys to be played with by the very party that we were fighting against before," they said, referring to Umno and Barisan Nasional who are now part of the Perikatan Nasional government.