Federal Court to decide on constitutionality of Penang's anti-hopping law

GEORGE TOWN, April 13 — The Penang High Court has allowed an application by the state legislative assembly and Penang Speaker for the Federal Court to decide on the constitutionality of the state's anti-hopping law.

Judicial Commissioner Azizan Md Arshad, in delivering his decision, said the defendants have fulfilled the basic requirements of Section 84 of the Courts Judicature Act and Article 128 of the Federal Constitution.

There was no order as to costs.

The Penang legislative assembly and Penang Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang, both defendants in this case, filed an application to the High Court to consider the case as a “special case” to be heard by the Federal Court.

In their grounds for application, they stated that the suit questioned the constitutionality of Article 14A of the Constitution of the State of Penang and this suit involved great constitutional significance.

Therefore, they stated that it is necessary for the Federal Court to decide on the matter for a speedy and economical final ruling.

Back in late 2020, four state assemblymen, Zulkifli Ibrahim (Sungai Acheh), Dr Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya), Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bertam) and Zolkifly Md Lazim (Telok Bahang) filed three separate suits against the state legislative assembly and the state Speaker to challenge a motion introduced in October 2020 for the four to vacate their seats and by-elections to be held.

The motion was tabled under Article 14A of the Constitution of the State of Penang which stipulated that a member of the state legislative assembly shall vacate his seat if having been elected as a candidate of a political party, he resigns or is expelled from a party or having been elected otherwise than as a candidate of a political party, he joins a political party.

The law also stipulated that the state assemblyman is required to vacate his seat if the party is dissolved or its registration cancelled.

Zulkifli and Dr Afif, who were both elected under PKR, were terminated from PKR, while Khaliq Mehtab and Zolkifly are still in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, in which they were elected under.

In their suits against the state legislative assembly and the Speaker, the four refer a question to the Federal Court on whether Article 14A of the Penang constitution is void for being inconsistent with Article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.

The main basis for their application was the decision of a 30-year-old case, the Kelantan legislative assembly versus Nordin Salleh in 1992.

Due to the case still being heard in court, the defendants have agreed to temporarily hold off from tabling the motions for the four to vacate their seats.

The defendants submitted the application to the High Court via email for the matter to be heard in the Federal Court on April 11 and the High Court allowed the application on April 12.

Datuk Malik Imtiaz and Surendra Anath represented the defendants while Datuk NP Naban and Rosli Dahlan represented the plaintiffs.