New seating place for three out of four Bersatu 'defectors'

 

PARLIAMENT | Three out of the four rogue Bersatu MPs who switched their support to back the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have been moved in the Dewan Rakyat.

They are now located behind the seat of Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, whose Muda party withdrew support for the coalition unity government in September.

"Three Bersatu MPs moved to behind Muar (MP)," said Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He also attached a photo of the MPs’ name plaques which indicated that the MPs were from Labuan, Jeli, and Gua Musang.

The four rogue MPs who pledged support for Anwar are Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang), and Zahari Kechik (Jeli).

Iskandar and Suhaili have already been suspended from Bersatu for four and six years respectively, while the other two have been referred to the party's disciplinary committee.

All of them said they made the decision in the interest of and for the welfare of the voters in their respective constituencies.

"At this point, Kuala Kangsar is still in the same seat," Syahredzan told Malaysiakini.

When asked if he knew the rationale behind the move, he replied in the negative.

"I don't know. All I know is that they have been moved," he said.

Shahidan Kassim

Meanwhile, Shahidan Kassim (Perikatan Nasional-Arau) attempted to raise the matter in Parliament, citing Standing Order 18 (1) on matters of urgent public importance.

"I am disturbed by this move. After all, they have not jumped from the party, just expressed their support. So why have they been moved?" he asked.

"If you are going to move their seat, might as well ask them to stop straight away; there will be 10 others to take their place," added Shahidan.

However, deputy speaker Alice Lau moved on from the topic.

Malaysiakini has attempted to contact Iskandar while a representative of Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul said that they had no information to disclose on this matter.

However, Johari said last week he had received letters on the matter from all four Bersatu MPs who applied to change their seating place in the Dewan Rakyat, and that he would look at the set-up of the august house before making a decision.