Bersatu cannot force its MPs who support Anwar to vacate seat, says Labuan MP

KOTA KINABALU: Bersatu cannot force its elected representatives have who pledged their support to the unity government to vacate their seats even if the party constitution is amended.

Bersatu's Labuan MP Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman said the decision to vacate a seat can only be determined by the Parliament Speaker or the courts.

"As long as there is no order to vacate the seat given by the Speaker or court, Bersatu cannot order the seat to be vacated," he said Tuesday (Jan 30) when responding to Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin's statement that the party will amend its constitution and take legal action against Bersatu representatives who have betrayed the party.

Suhaili said the party leadership had already taken action against MPs who supported the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by suspending them from Bersatu.

"We have already declared our support for the Prime Minister, they (Bersatu) have taken action to suspend us from the party. I myself was suspended for six years," said Suhaili, who is one of the six Bersatu MPs who have pledged their support for Anwar but did not leave the party.

"So far, I have not received any order to vacate the seat from the Speaker or the courts," he said, adding that their actions were not against the country's anti-party hopping law.

"We only declared support for Anwar to get allocations to help the people in the parliamentary constituency instead of jumping parties," he added.

However, he said that it was up to Bersatu to amend the party constitution.

"Bersatu elected representatives have the right to make their own decisions – even if it is against the party's position," he added.

On Monday (Jan 29) Hamzah said that Bersatu had decided to take legal action against any representative who betrays the party and instruct them to vacate their seats for a by-election to take place.

Bersatu's supreme council also agreed to amend the party constitution to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future.