MPs determined to keep their seats

Going all out: Defending their posts are (from left) Khairul Firdaus, Jonathan, Armizan and Matbali.

KOTA KINABALU: The four Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) MPs will defend their positions in the Dewan Rakyat amid continued efforts by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to unseat them.

Ranau MP Datuk Jonathan Yasin and Batu Sapi MP Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan were both defiant that the seats they won in the 15th General Election were theirs to keep.

Both have expressed their intention to defend the seats “no matter what”.

This comes after a latest report stating that Bersatu had filed a bid to commence legal action in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur against Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Johari Abdul and others as the party attempts to vacate four parliamentary seats in Sabah.

The application for leave to initiate the judicial review was filed by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee and a public officer of the party, Datuk Captain (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, through the legal firm of Messrs Chetan Jethwani & Company at the High Court here on April 17.

According to the application, Johari’s decision to not vacate the seats in Papar, Batu Sapi, Ranau and Sipitang was “tainted with illegality” and that Johari had erred in his decision.

The seats are held by Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar), Khairul Firdaus (Batu Sapi), Jonathan (Ranau) and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang).

Khairul Firdaus said there was no point debating on whether Bersatu had any grounds for their argument, adding that it was best to leave it to the court to decide.

“From our perspective, we have solid grounds to defend it,” he said.

Jonathan said he would definitely defend his seat and vigorously challenge Bersatu’s legal action for judicial review in court.

“My position is clear. I stood under a GRS ticket, my political membership is with GRS before the nomination day to date. I never left GRS,” he said.

Asked if he had his lawyers on standby to handle this matter, he replied “yes”.

Bersatu had attempted to vacate the four seats as the party claimed that the four MPs were Bersatu members that contested under the GRS ticket.

However, Johari rejected Bersatu’s bid to vacate the seats after the four MPs argued that they were direct members of GRS when they contested in the 15th General Election.

The position of the four MPs became contentious when Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who was the Sabah Bersatu chairman, led the exodus of leaders out of the party to become GRS direct members.

Bersatu claimed that the four MPs had breached the anti-hopping law but the MPs said that they became direct members of GRS and contested under GRS for the general election.