KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman has vowed that he will do everything within his power to retain his Labuan parliamentary seat amid threats from Perikatan Nasional that he will lose it soon.
“The party’s constitution is not above the country’s Constitution. Of course (I will fight for the seat). I am a fighter, I will fight to the end,” he said when contacted on Thursday (May 9).
Suhaili was responding to a statement from Perikatan secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin that he will be the first lawmaker to receive an expulsion letter from Bersatu for declaring support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Hamzah also claimed that Suhaili will lose his status as a parliamentarian, triggering a by-election in Labuan.
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To this, Suhaili said he would willingly accept being the first one expelled from Bersatu but rejected the notion he would have to vacate his seat.
“There is nothing much I can say about being the first or the last because that is (according to) their (Bersatu's) constitution but with regard to vacating the seat, it is up to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, not up to him (Hamzah).
“He doesn’t have the authority to tell me to vacate the seat, so I will just wait for what the Speaker has to say – he has the power," he said.
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Hamzah also claimed there will soon be by-elections in the other five parliamentary constituencies – Gua Musang, Jeli, Bukit Gantang, Kuala Kangsar and Tanjong Karang – where the MPs, also from Bersatu, had pledged support for the Prime Minister.
An amendment to Bersatu’s constitution through its special general assembly on March 2 will see the automatic revocation of the membership of MPs and state assemblymen who backed other parties.
