Azhar: I don't want to polemicise my rulings by explaining them

 

Outgoing Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun does not want to explain his ruling outside the august house as he did not want them to be polemicised.

"I feel the speaker should not explain outside the Dewan Rakyat what he does in there.

"Because I don't want to polemicise my ruling. Otherwise, how am I going to do my job if I have to explain my rulings, each and every one of my rulings... I will explain it to the MPs, through a letter," he said in an interview with Astro Awani last night.

The interview, titled “Art Harun | To the letter of the law” was part of the Consider This series hosted by Melisa Idris.

Earlier, he was asked to explain instances where his ruling in the Dewan Rakyat had been construed as siding with the executive when he was supposed to be impartial.

Azhar (above) likened not explaining his ruling to that of a judge, where court judgments are not publicised, or justified to the public.

The host also addressed the perception that Azhar was “lenient" towards jailed former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, such as giving the latter an extension on answering a 1MDB-related question when he was away campaigning in Johor.

She further pressed on Azhar's remark that Najib can attend Parliament, despite his 12-years-imprisonment for corruption, if the Prisons Department allows it.

Just following the law

To this, Azhar said Najib's disqualification as the Pekan MP does not take effect under the Federal Constitution until there is an outcome to his pardon and judicial review applications.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak

"Because he is still an MP, he can still come to the Dewan Rakyat," he said, adding that he does not have the power to stop Najib from coming to Parliament.

According to him, all elected MPs are entitled to attend Parliament until their disqualification takes force.

"The issue was whether he (Najib) could present himself. And that's not in my domain. (So in this case), to present himself, he must get the Prisons Department's permission.

"So you know, I'm just implementing the law," said Azhar.

Citing the jurisdictions, Azhar said he could be sued for not allowing Najib to attend Parliament if the Prisons Department had allowed him to.

Azhar also justified blocking several motions during the Dewan Rakyat sitting, saying they were not allowed to take place as "discussions" could have revealed state secrets.

On rejecting citizenship bill

Azhar was then asked to explain his rejection of the bid by 17 MPs to file a private member’s bill for a constitutional amendment allowing citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.

To this, Azhar said while he was "all for it", matters pertaining to citizenship cannot be amended in the Federal Constitution without consent from the Conference of Rulers.

According to him, he had clearly stated the reason in the letters written to the said MPs but asked why they did not take note of that.

"You have to go to the Conference of Rulers first before moving that. That's the real reason. I have got no other reason.

"I have stated that in the letter, but I don't know if any of the MPs referred to that paragraph of mine. You see, that's the problem with the narrative. That's the problem with headlines. Speaker rejects the motion," said Azhar.

This is how the reason behind the rejection goes unnoticed, he added.

Asked about "what's next" for Art Harun (his moniker), Azhar said he does not know what the future holds or what the result of the 15th general election (GE15) will be.

"Of course, if I'm not the speaker anymore, I'd be practising," said Azhar, who is a lawyer by profession.

Azhar concluded the interview by saying that he believes that the country’s democracy is “flourishing”, in the sense that the government was no longer "unicentric". - Mkini