(from left) Papar MP Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, Sipitang MP Datuk Matbali Musah, Batu Sapi MP Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Tourism, Arts and Culture deputy minister) and Ranau MP Datuk Jonathan Yassin.
KOTA KINABALU: Four Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) lawmakers are ready to fight a legal battle against an attempt by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to vacate their seats under the anti-hopping law.
GRS' Papar MP Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, however, said that he was confident that the Bersatu bid for a judicial review of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker's decision not to vacate their seats will be respected by the courts.
Armizan, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department overseeing Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Duties, reiterated the four's stand that they were GRS members and had contested on a GRS ticket and not the Perikatan Nasional platform in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul had recognised this and, on Jan 16, rejected a bid by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee to vacate the four GRS-held seats in Parliament.
The other three MPs are Matbali Musa (Sipitang), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi) and Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau). All four were formerly with Bersatu.
Armizan said that they have yet to receive the legal notices of Bersatu's filing of an application in the High Court for a judicial review of the Speaker's decision not to vacate the seats.
He said all four would discuss with the legal team to get advice on further actions that should be taken.
When asked if Bersatu had the locus standi to challenge the decision of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Armizan said the matter should be asked of the party who filed the application in court.
"We need to ask the person who brought it to court, Datuk Ronald Kiandee," he said.
"We have to respect the country's judicial system so, if there is a certain party that takes this matter to court, then we have to respect and obey even if it was decided by the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat before," he added.
Kiandee and Datuk Captain (R) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, as public officers of Bersatu, had filed an application for permission for a judicial review to overturn the decision of the Speaker not to vacate the four parliamentary seats.
In the application for permission, Bersatu applied for an order to cancel Johari's decision through a letter dated Jan 16, which explained and confirmed that there was no vacancy in the parliamentary seat based on the interpretation of the GRS Constitution and the Bersatu Constitution.
Amirzan said the Bersatu leadership's decision to take it to the courts did not surprise him as Bersatu did not want a local-based party to gain ground in Sabah.
He said Kiandee, who is Sabah Bersatu chief, contested the Beluran seat as a Bersatu candidate on a Perikatan ticket.
"Kiandee should ask himself why he contested on the Perikatan ticket and why we contested on the GRS ticket, are they the same or different?
"That is one of the things that I think needs to be clarified, wait for what is decided," he said.
In GE15 last year, all four former Bersatu members contested on a GRS ticket. All of them were subsequently stripped of their Bersatu memberships on Dec 21, 2022 and remain GRS MPs.
