KUALA LUMPUR: Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced today that he wants the courts to make a decision on the status of four Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) members of parliament (MPs) who were formerly from his party.
This latest development comes after Papar MP Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul decided that he and the three other MPs did not have to vacate their seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
Muhyiddin insisted that Johari had made a mistake in interpreting Article 49A(3) of the Federal Constitution, which addresses party-hopping among MPs.
"Since the authority to interpret the constitution and the laws is with the courts, Bersatu will refer this matter to the courts so that the rule of law can be upheld," he said in a statement.
Muhyiddin, who is also Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, suggested that it was improper for Johari to make such a call on the matter since he was still a PKR (Keadilan) member.
Armizan, former Sabah Bersatu information chief Khairul Firdaus Akhbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang) had said earlier that they were dropping Bersatu in favour of forming a new party.
The four MPs had been elected during the recent 15th General Election (GE15) on a GRS ticket, while Bersatu was then still part of the GRS coalition.
However, after GE15, GRS leaders, led by chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, said they had collectively left Bersatu. The coalition was also aligned with the unity government led by Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Muhyiddin said Bersatu's constitution states that a member automatically loses his or her membership if they join another political party.
Nonetheless, he said this did not affect the four MPs as they were members of the party during GE15 while Bersatu was still a component party within GRS.
"Therefore, GRS cannot be interpreted as 'another political party' based on the spirit and essence of Clause 10.2.3 of Bersatu's constitution," he said.
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