INTERVIEW | Bersatu supreme council member Dr Afif Bahardin has urged party deputy president Hamzah Zainudin to act against expelled and suspended MPs who continue to sit on Perikatan Nasional’s bench in Parliament.
Afif said Hamzah, as opposition leader, must explain why former Bersatu members who have faced disciplinary action remain on PN’s side of the Dewan Rakyat.
“We have already expelled Tasek Gelugor MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan and Temerloh MP Saifuddin Abdullah, and we have suspended Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal.
“Why are they still sitting on the PN bench? Hamzah has to answer that as opposition leader,” he told Malaysiakini.
The Taman Medan assemblyperson drew parallels with a previous episode in Selangor, where opposition leader Azmin Ali wrote to state speaker Ng Suee Lim to remove Selat Kelang assemblyperson Rasid Asari from the PN bloc after he declared support for Menteri Besar Amirudin Saari in 2024.
“Even though the speaker did not declare the seat vacant, that’s the least we could do for him to be removed from the bench.
“The same thing should happen in Parliament,” he said.
Afif stressed that the matter was not about personalities - either in support of Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin or Hamzah - but about party discipline and adherence to the party constitution.
“For me, this is not about Muhyiddin or Hamzah; it’s about the party. There is no point having a party constitution or guidelines if we don’t follow them,” he said.
He noted that disciplinary action against Wan Fayhsal, Wan Saiful and Saifuddin had been endorsed not only by the party president but also by the supreme council, of which Hamzah is a member.
“So to me, it’s clear. If I were in that position, I would have to take action,” Afif said.
Wan Saiful was sacked from Bersatu on Oct 14 last year, along with four other division leaders, while Wan Fayhsal was served with a six-year suspension.
Saifuddin, meanwhile, was sacked on Jan 5 this year.
All three leaders have appealed against the action, with the latest hearing on Feb 3 attended by Wan Saiful and Wan Fayhsal.
The trio had also added pressure to calls for Muhyiddin to resign as Bersatu president, in the wake of developments which followed the Pagoh MP’s resignation as PN chairperson effective Jan 1.
‘No grey area’
Afif insisted that even while appeals are pending, the affected MPs should be relocated from PN’s bench.
“To me, this is very clear. There is no grey area.
“As opposition leader and deputy president, when the party has made a decision, he must follow through on the party’s decision,” he said.
Apart from remaining on the opposition bench, both Wan Fayhsal and Saifuddin have regularly appeared with other PN MPs during Hamzah’s weekly press conferences in Parliament to recap the week’s proceedings.
Failure to do so, Afif warned, risks creating the perception that Hamzah is rejecting the party’s disciplinary decision “to protect these people”.
“My advice to him is that the image does not bode well with the grassroots,” he said.
“Grassroot members are seeing that ‘the party has sacked them, so why are they still with PN?’ They don’t represent Bersatu anymore. Whatever they say doesn’t represent Bersatu or PN,” he said.
Similar calls
On Feb 4, Bersatu supreme council member Ruhanie Ahmad urged the party’s appeals board, led by Azhar Azizan Harun, to expedite its decision on Wan Saiful.
“I also express my highest hope that the board will uphold Wan Saiful’s expulsion, as previously decided by the disciplinary board,” said the Bangi Bersatu acting chief, of which Wan Saiful was a division member.
On Feb 5, Tasek Gelugor Bersatu chief Azmi Alang made a similar call for Hamzah to declare Wan Saiful and Wan Fayhsal as independents in Parliament, and for the appeals board to uphold actions against them.
Earlier, on Feb 1, Machang Bersatu division chief Abdul Halim Kamaruddin called on the disciplinary board to consider harsher action against Wan Fayhsal based on further complaints that have yet to be deliberated upon.
Since Bersatu’s annual general assembly last year, where Hamzah openly declared that he is no traitor to Muhyiddin, the Larut MP has yet to publicly address allegations that he backed the leaders and internal manoeuvrings which led to the disciplinary actions. - Mkini
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