Democracy dead in Penang, says state PN chief

 

Dominic Lau said the removal of the four assemblymen was an attempt to silence the opposition.

GEORGE TOWN: Perikatan Nasional’s Dominic Lau has criticised the removal of four Bersatu representatives from the state assembly, saying it was the darkest day in Penang’s history.

“Democracy has died. This is unfair,” Lau told reporters outside the state assembly.

Earlier, the Penang state assembly approved a motion to vacate the seats of Khaliq Mehtab Ishaq (Bertam), Zolkifly Lazim (Teluk Bahang), Dr Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya) and Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh) for party hopping.

All four won their seats in the 14th general election on a Pakatan Harapan (PH) ticket.

Lau, who is the Penang PN chief, said Khaliq and Zolkifly have always been with Bersatu.

“How can they be accused of party hopping?”.

The Gerakan president said in the case of Afif and Zulkifli, the duo were sacked by PKR.

“As such, the notion that they too were guilty of party hopping was inconsistent with the federal anti-hopping law.

“It is clear that there are double standards,” he said, adding that there was a need to streamline Penang’s anti-hopping law with the federal legislation which was the result of more in-depth studies and discussions.

Lau added that the removal of the four assemblymen was an attempt to smear PN’s image and silence the opposition.

The four assemblymen were all deemed to have “lost” their seats after Bersatu left PH – following the Sheraton Move in February 2020 – based on the anti-hopping provision contained in Article 14A of the state constitution.

Article 14A states that an assemblyman shall vacate his seat if having been elected as a candidate of a political party, he resigns or is expelled from a party or having been elected otherwise than as a candidate of a political party, he joins a political party. - FMT