Mohd Azizi to take state Speaker to court

PETALING JAYA: Embattled Nenggiri state assemblyman Mohd Azizi Abu Naim is taking the Kelantan state assembly Speaker to court for declaring that his seat is vacant.

The Bersatu member, who won the seat under a PAS ticket, questioned how Kelantan Legislative Speaker Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah had arrived at the decision based on a notice from Bersatu.

“I was dropped as a Bersatu member, but I am technically a state assemblyman representing PAS, as my watikah (letter of endorsement) when I was elected came from PAS.

“Under what capacity is the Kelantan state assembly Speaker acting in such a hurry to vacate the state seat of Nenggiri as I am still a representative with the PAS logo?

“I will take this to court as it is unconstitutional to vacate the seat just because I was dropped as a Bersatu party member.

“I did not quit the party; the party threw me out. On top of that, I am still challenging my termination from the party,” said Mohd Azizi when contacted.

Mohd Amar had declared the Nenggiri seat vacant after the Kelantan state assembly received a notice under Clause (3) of Article 31A of the Kelantan Constitution from Mohd Azizi on June 13 and a notice from Bersatu that he had ceased to be a member.

Nenggiri is one of the three state constituencies in the parliamentary constituency of Gua Musang, besides Paloh and Galas.

Mohd Azizi said that despite the seat being declared vacant by the Speaker, he will continue to perform as the Nenggiri state assemblyman.

“The decision victimises the Nenggiri constituents as it robs them of the allocation promised by the Federal Government,” he said.

Mohd Azizi alleged that he was being discriminated against by the Kelantan government even though he had won under the PAS ticket.

“This is why I had to shift my allegiance to the Federal Government to request allocation to serve my constituents,” claimed Mohd Azizi, who is also Gua Musang MP.

In response, Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzli Hassan refuted Mohd Azizi’s allegations as “lies concocted as an afterthought”.

“Mohd Azizi was treated the same as all other PAS and Bersatu state assemblymen in Kelantan with regard to state constituency allocations. Now, he says this and that as an afterthought to cover his betrayal.

“Prior to this, the Nenggiri rep had stated that he would continue his support for the Kelantan state government.

“As with the Gua Musang and Jeli MPs who switched allegiances to the unity government, they claimed they did so because they had been denied allocations.”

Meanwhile, Perikatan chairman and Bersatu President Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin thanked the Kelantan state assembly Speaker for vacating the Nenggiri state seat earlier than expected.

“The announcement shows that the amendment to the party constitution and notices sent to the sacked Bersatu reps are in line with the laws.

“We are ready for a by-election in Nenggiri and ready to win the state seat again,” said Muhyiddin.

Mohd Azizi is among the MPs and a Selangor assemblyman whose memberships were revoked after they failed to respond to a letter requesting that they pledge their allegiance to the party.