Court dismisses Bersatu bid to vacate 4 Sabah parliamentary seats

KUALA LUMPUR: The high court here today dismissed Bersatu’s application for leave to initiate a judicial review against Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul and four Members of Parliament (MPs) from Sabah.
Bersatu had filed the legal action for Johari to declare as vacant the seats held by the four MPs.
 Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh said the court was bound by the Federal Court’s ruling that it had no jurisdiction to question the decision of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker on the vacancy of the four seats under Article 63 of the Federal Constitution.
 “Therefore, the court dismissed the application by the plaintiff (Bersatu), with no order as to costs,” he said.
The application for the judicial review was filed by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee and Datuk Captain (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya as a public officer of the party last April 17.
Bersatu named Johari and the four MPs, namely  Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang) as the first to fifth respondents.
In the application, Bersatu is seeking an order to revoke a decision made by Johari, through a letter dated Jan 16, 2023, which stated that the second to fifth respondents had clarified and confirmed that there was no vacant parliamentary seat based on the interpretation of the constitution of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Bersatu.
 Bersatu is also seeking a declaration that the four MPs had ceased to be members of the Dewan Rakyat in accordance with Article 49A of the Federal Constitution, as well as an order for Johari to confirm the four seats as vacant.
 Lawyers Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, Chetan Jethwani and Pravin Thangarajoo represented both applicants, while senior federal counsel Farah Shuhada Ramli represented the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and lawyers Datuk Firoz Hussein Jamaluddin, Wafiy Azman, Woo J Enn and Choo Shi Jin represented the second to fifth respondents.
— BERNAMA