Bersatu has again failed to secure leave to initiate a judicial review over Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul’s refusal to declare vacant the seats of four Sabah MPs after they backed the prime minister.
The appeal was unanimously dismissed by a three-member Court of Appeal bench today.
Justice Ruzima Ghazali, who led the bench, said the Speaker’s action, as stated in a letter dated Jan 16, 2023, was immune to judicial review based on Article 63(1) of the Federal Constitution.
“The High Court was not wrong to dismiss the leave application for judicial review. The appeal has no merit,” he said.
Bersatu was also ordered to bear their costs.
Justices Azizul Azmi Adnan and Shahnaz Sulaiman also heard the appeal.
In his 2023 written judgment, High Court judge Amarjeet Singh said he was bound by a decision of the Federal Court, which ruled that the Speaker’s decision as to whether a casual vacancy exists was non-justiciable under Article 63(1) of the constitution.
That provision stipulates that the validity of proceedings in either House of Parliament or any of their respective committees shall not be questioned in any court.
“I cannot ignore a binding precedent and settled law,” he said.
Johari had previously said there was no need to vacate the Papar, Batu Sapi, Ranau, and Sipitang seats, held by Armizan Mohd Ali, Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, Jonathan Yasin and Matbali Musah, respectively.
The decision was communicated to the party in a letter dated Jan 16.
Bersatu claimed that Johari’s decision not to vacate the seats of ex-MPs of the party was “tainted with illegality”.
The four MPs were elected on a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah ticket in the last general election (GE15) while Bersatu was part of GRS.
However, following GE15, GRS dropped Bersatu as a coalition member.
Bersatu vice-president Ronald Kiandee was previously reported as saying the party had issued letters of termination to the four MPs on Dec 21, 2022.
He said this was because they had “crossed the floor” by sitting with the government bloc during the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Dec 19, 2022.
Kiandee claimed this had triggered Article 49A of the Federal Constitution, which states that MPs will lose their seats if they move to another party except if they are sacked by the party or if it is dissolved or deregistered.
Bersatu had wanted the High Court to revoke Johari’s decision and order him to declare the four seats vacant.
Counsel Azhar Harun and Chetan Jethwani appeared for Bersatu while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly and federal counsel Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman represented the attorney-general.
Lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin appeared for the MPs as putative respondents.
Chetan said he would obtain the client’s instruction on whether to go to the Federal Court to appeal today’s ruling.
