GEORGE TOWN: Penang PKR Youth wants the state to pursue the legal channels to compel the two Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) representatives to vacate their state seats.
This is following the decision by the two PPBM assemblymen, Khalid Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam) and Zolkifli Md Lazim (Teluk Bahang), to suddenly declare their support for the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government instead of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition state government.
Penang PKR Youth head Fahmi Zainol said in a statement that the two assemblymen were clearly in violation of the state Constitutional Enactment (Amendments) 2012 under clause 14A.
The law spells out that elected representatives have to vacate their seats if they switch parties or become Independents during their tenure.
“The best recourse is by-elections for both seats; both from the legal and moral standpoints. We must have principles or a backbone in politics.”
Fahmi was upset that the duo had earlier pledged support to PH and now just some two months later, they decided to change their stance with no apparent reason – betraying the trust given to them by the electorate.
Fahmi also urged Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow to act against the two rebel elected representatives.
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) political scientist Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said that the move by the two PPBM politicians would largely only affect the party and not the state.
Penang continues to see a huge majority on the part of PH, which has 35 out of the 40 state seats, he noted in an interview.
Sivamurugan said PPBM has a crisis within the party and it is apparent that in Penang, the two assemblymen prefer to side with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the PPBM incumbent president.
The other PPBM faction is led by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
But looking ahead, Sivamurugan said that it is politically unhealthy here, as it pits the majority of the Malay-centric parties in PN against the others in PH.
And many seats in Penang are mixed seats in composition, so the voters would be put in a tight spot of whom to choose, said Sivamurugan.
PN comprises of one faction of PPBM, PAS and Barisan Nasional, which is dominated by Umno whereas PH comprises the racially diverse PKR, Parti Amanah Negara, the smallest Malay party, and DAP.
