GEORGE TOWN: In a historic first, the Penang state legislative assembly today voted to remove four Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) assemblymen, who had previously withdrawn their support for the administration.
The four are Bertam assemblyman Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq, Teluk Bahang's Zolkifly Md Lazim, Seberang Jaya's Dr Afif Bahardin and Sungai Acheh's Zulkifli Ibrahim
The motion for their dismissal, brought by Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahmad, was passed with a voice vote, and received the support of the majority.
Ahmad Zakiyuddin, when tabling the motion, said Article 14A of the Penang State Constitution states that an assemblyman must vacate his/ her seat when he/ she leaves, quits or is stripped of membership from a political party or joins any other political party.
"According to Article 14A of the Penang State Constitution, it applies to the Bertam and Teluk Bahang assemblymen who are members of Bersatu (at the time of the 14th General Election) who contested on a PKR ticket and received merit from the PKR president.
"As for the Sungai Acheh and Seberang Jaya assemblymen, they have been dismissed from PKR.
"If this motion is approved, the state speaker will have to inform the Election Commission (EC) about the vacancy of the four seats," he said.
The motion was passed after a debate by 12 elected representatives, including Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and the four Bersatu assemblymen.
The four Bersatu assemblymen and Pas' sole state assemblyman Mohd Yusni Md Piah (Penaga) debated against the motion.
Opposition leader Datuk Muhammad Yusoff Mohd Noor (Umno - Sungai Dua) abstained while others debated in favour of the motion.
Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang said the state legislative assembly took note of the motion brought before the august house.
He said the motion, if passed, does not necessitate by-elections since the state election would be held in less than two years time.
"Do you support this motion? Since there are more 'yes' votes, this means that this motion is agreed upon.
"As such, I ask the four Bersatu assemblymen to leave this august house," he said.
The four then stood up to leave the assembly, accompanied by Mohd Yusni, who stood in solidarity with the four.
During the heated debate, the speaker instructed Dr Afif to stop recording the proceedings as it was already done in camera.
Dr Afif argued that he was merely recording himself.
"There is a public recoding of this and it is being aired. You can obtain footage there. Please stop recording Yang Berhormat. Do respect my status as the speaker. Please sit down," Law told Dr Afif.
Khaliq, meanwhile, said he did not expect the state government to expedite the tabling of the motion.
He reiterated that he never jumped or changed parties and insisted that he was a lifelong member of Bersatu.
He explained that three scenarios to party jumping as mentioned in the amendment to the state constitution, namely party jumping; dismissal from the party and declaring oneself as an independent representative.
"Neither of these scenarios affected either me or Teluk Bahang. This motion clearly shows that democracy in Penang is dead.
"We were elected by the people and this approved motion clearly shows betrayal of the people's mandate because we were elected to carry the voice of the people in our respective areas.
"It does not matter. We will come back stronger," he said.
Dr Afif said he was determined to continue bringing the voice of the people despite being dismissed, labeling it as "revenge politics."
The status of the four assemblymen has been left in limbo since the Sheraton move in 2020 after the four became a part of Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Khaliq had sent a motion to the state assembly on Feb 20 to amend Article 14A Clause 1 of the Penang Constitution regarding the law on party-hopping to be parallel and consistent with the Anti-Party hopping Act (Act A1663), which was approved in Parliament last year.
He had said that the major contradiction in this law was with regards to the dismissal of members of the assembly because based on the act, a member of parliament would not lose his/ her seat if he/ she was dismissed from the party or if his/her political party is dissolved or deregistered.
He said they were of the view that Penang should not be seen as contradicting and being in contrary to the Federal Constitution, which is the highest law of the land.
However, the opposition motion was rejected by the speaker from being debated in the state assembly sitting.