Speaker to ignore injunction to stop debate on redelination (Updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: An injunction to stop the debate on the constituency redelineation motion in Parliament has been served on Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang) said the injunction was filed in the Shah Alam High Court, due to a pending lawsuit by 107 groups objecting to the constituency redelineation.
He said since the matter had been brought to court, it would be sub judice to debate it in Parliament.
However, Pandikar said he would proceed with the tabling and debating of the motion tomorrow, adding that "people can agree to disagree in a democracy".
"My opinion (is) sub judice is sometimes applicable to certain cases. If sub judice is applicable (to a case) like this, then that means the Dewan Rakyat cannot do anything at all," he said.
"To me, the separation of power is let Parliament do its job, let the court do its job, while the executive body also does its job."
On July 24 last year, Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said had cited the factor of sub judice for the rejection of oral questions on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
He had said the decision to reject the questions was made by Pandikar and that it was final and in accordance to the Standing Orders.
"Please refer to Standing Orders 99 if you are unhappy with the decision of the Honourable Speaker. The decision of the Speaker is final," he had told the Dewan Rakyat.
Santiago told a press conference in Parliament today he hoped the Speaker would conform to the injunction and stop the debate.
"I am left with no choice. I am forced to initiate a court action requesting an injunction to stop the Speaker from proceeding with the tabling of the report on the review of electoral boundaries for debate.
"The report is incomplete as the Election Commission had not completed the inquiry involving 107 groups, totalling more than 10,000 voters."
He said the voters from Selangor have been left out in the consultation process, which is in violation of the Federal Constitution that requires all objections to be heard.
"Furthermore, the courts have not disposed of cases brought by the Penang and Selangor state governments. Given the court cases are contested in two different courts, it would be sub judice for the Speaker to allow a debate."
"And it will be a travesty of justice if the courts rule that the Election Commission was wrong in not holding an inquiry before submitting the report to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak," he added.
Santiago explained that if the motion is debated and voted on, it would make the redelineation report invalid, and the MPs would be debating an invalid report.
"The new boundaries would affect more than half of Malaysia's parliamentary and state legislative seats, potentially shifting voters from marginal constituencies into Opposition strongholds that have more than 100,000 voters but still be represented by a seat each in Parliament.
"On the other hand, Barisan Nasional-controlled seats, like Putrajaya, could have as few as 17,000 voters," he added.