Batang Kali rep says Speaker cannot disqualify him, only EC can

KLANG: Selangor Pejuang chief Harumaini Omar is crying foul at his expulsion and wants to be reinstated as the Batang Kali assemblyman.

“I want the Selangor Speaker to retract my expulsion and his declaration that the Batang Kali seat has fallen vacant.

Harumaini Omar

“As far as I am concerned, only the Election Commission (EC) can declare that a seat has fallen vacant,’’ he said.

Harumaini is disputing the duration of his absence from the Selangor legislative assembly sittings as stated by Speaker Ng Suee Lim that led to his expulsion.

Ng had told a press conference on Thursday that Harumaini was expelled as an assemblyman for not attending the sittings without notice for six months.

He said he had written to the EC informing it that the Batang Kali seat had now fallen vacant.

Harumaini, 65, claimed that for the fifth term of the Selangor assembly last year, he had attended fully the first meeting in March, and partially the second meeting between July and August.

“I only did not attend the third meeting between November and December,’’ he added.

There were three meetings in the fifth term last year.

Given that, Harumaini said he should be called up only for not attending the third meeting and a six-month calculation for that period should end only in May 2023.

“The 15th state election would have been called by then,’’ Harumaini said.

He added that he had written to Ng seeking for his expulsion and the announcement that the Batang Kali state seat had fallen vacant to be retracted within three days, failing which he (Harumaini) would reserve his right to seek legal redress.

“The letter has been copied to the EC as well as to the state legislative assembly secretary,’’ he said.

Earlier yesterday, Pejuang information chief Rafique Rashid issued a statement claiming that Ng had made a factual and legal error in ejecting Harumaini from his seat.

“This is because the six-month calculation should have started from 23.11.2022,” he said, noting that it was the date of the commencement of the Selangor legislative assembly 2022’s third meeting.

Rafique added that since Harumaini had attended until the second meeting and absenteeism without notice only occurred during the beginning of the third meeting on Nov 23, the expiration of the six-month period, in accordance with Article 69 of the Selangor State Constitution 1959, should be on May 22, 2023.