JANUARY 3 — Three years ago in 2022, I wrote of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul confirming that he had received a formal notice from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) vice-president Datuk Ronald Kiandee.
The notice requested the Speaker to notify the Election Commission of four vacancies of parliamentary seats in Sabah. The four seats were Papar, Batu Sapi, Ranau, and Sipitang.
Johari said he would fulfil his role as Speaker but indicated that he would need some time “to do a lot of reading and digging” so as to “work out the best position on how to respond to the notice”.
Article 49A(3) of the Federal Constitution says that whenever the Speaker receives a written notice from any MP on the occurrence of a casual vacancy among the MP or MPs, “the Speaker shall establish that there is such a casual vacancy and notify the Election Commission accordingly within twenty-one days from the date he received the written notice.”
The word is “establish”. It means to discover facts that show that it is definitely true.
Johari rightly needed time to establish there were casual vacancies in the Dewan Rakyat then.
But unlike Johari who took time to respond to the formal notice from Bersatu, Perlis State Legislative Assembly (SLA) Speaker Rus’ele Eizan did not take much time to respond to a written notice from Beseri assemblyman Haziq Asyraf on the occurrence of three unexpected vacancies of the seats of Chuping, Bintong and Guar under Article 50A of the Perlis State Constitution.
“I have received official notification from PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyudin Hassan regarding the termination of [party memberships] of [Chuping Assemblyman Saad Seman, Bintong Assemblyman Fakhrul Anwar Ismail, and Guar Sanji Assemblyman Mohd Ridzuan Hashim], as well as a written notice from Beseri assemblyman Haziq Asyraf,” Rus’ele said in a press conference which was broadcast “live” on Facebook.
Rus’ele said that he was satisfied, after reviewing the developments, that the circumstances met the requirements under Article 50A(1)(a)(ii) of the Perlis State Constitution, hence confirming that the seats for Chuping, Bintong and Guar Sanji had fallen vacant.
The confirmation was made on December 25, only a day after termination of PAS membership of the three Perlis as resolved by the PAS Central Working Committee on December 24.
Article 50A(3) of the Perlis State Constitution says that whenever the Speaker receives a written notice from any member of the SLA on the occurrence of a casual vacancy among the members of the SLA, the Speaker shall establish that there is such a casual vacancy and notify the Election Commission accordingly within twenty-one days from the date he received the written notice.
Both Article 49A(3) of the Federal Constitution and Article 50A(3) of the Perlis State Constitution mandate the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and SLA Speaker respectively to establish the casual vacancy in the respective assemblies.
Not the court.
But not unlike the court, Speakers are the arbiters. They have to be independent, and fearless arbiters.
They must independently and without fear and favour establish whether there are casual vacancies in the legislative assemblies.
And as I wrote more than four years ago, Speakers must be impartial. Impartiality and integrity are hallmarks of a good Speaker.
Or as a certain Art Harun said, Speakers must be persons of “integrity, who [are] fiercely independent.”
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
