Selat Klang seat not vacant, says Selangor speaker

 

Selangor assembly speaker Lau Weng San said he was ‘not persuaded’ that there was enough evidence to prove a casual vacancy of the Selat Klang seat. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: There is no casual vacancy in the Selat Klang state seat held by Abdul Rashid Asari, says Selangor assembly speaker Lau Weng San.

Lau told the state assembly that the termination of Rashid’s Bersatu membership was “found to be a constructive expulsion” based on the Selangor constitution.

“I am not persuaded that there is sufficient evidence to prove a casual vacancy,” he said.

Rashid, the former Selangor Bersatu chief, had pledged support for Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari earlier this year, becoming the seventh Bersatu elected representative to rebel against the party.

Last month, state opposition leader Azmin Ali notified Lau that Rashid had ceased to be a member of Bersatu, which meant his seat should be vacated.

This came after Bersatu amended its constitution to allow the party to revoke the party memberships of elected representatives if they went against the party’s stand.

Today, Lau said the state’s anti-hopping provisions required that the speaker “establish that there is a casual vacancy” when notified and said this did not mean he should merely be a rubber stamp.

“I do not agree with those who contend that a speaker has to immediately declare that there is a casual vacancy upon receipt of such notice. This is akin to saying that the speaker is merely a rubber stamp.

“I believe this is not the correct reading of the state constitution.

“Under the state constitution, the speaker has to exercise due diligence and act quasi-inquisitorial to establish the facts to ascertain if a casual vacancy has occurred.

“Such notice also needs to be corroborated by other sources of evidence,” said the DAP man.

In justifying his decision, Lau said there was no evidence to prove that the amendment to Bersatu’s constitution was retrospective and applied to Rashid, given that he stated support for Amirudin before the amendment was made.

He also said under Bersatu’s constitution, “cessation of membership” and “sacking” are under the same clause without distinguishing between the two, arguing that this implied the two words needed to be read together and not separately.

He drew comparisons with DAP’s constitution, which he said separately addressed sackings and cessation of memberships.

Lau said a DAP member would only be sacked if the party’s disciplinary board decided to do so after holding disciplinary proceedings, but an elected representative will immediately cease to be a member once they went against the party. - FMT