The chairman of Malaysia’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) has announced that seven elected representatives who expressed support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will receive notification of their termination from the opposition coalition over the next few days.
Muhyiddin Yassin – who is also the president of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) – added that PN will consider launching a petition against the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH)’s recent by-election victory in Kuala Kubu Bharu in Selangor state.
Bersatu is a component party of PN, along with the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan).
“We must be very careful and take the proper steps to inform the six Members of Parliament (MP) and one (state) assemblyman that their memberships in PN have been terminated and the necessary notices will be sent to them in the next day or so,” said Muhyiddin, speaking to reporters after a PN meeting on Tuesday (Jun 11).
He added that the coalition had to take its time to conduct due diligence, so no mistakes were made, or laws broken.
“There is a process to undertake and approval from the board is needed, as well as compliance with the anti-party hopping law and party constitution,” said Muhyiddin.
“The next step will be to inform the Dewan Rakyat speaker which we will also do in due course,” he added.
The Dewan Rakyat is Malaysia’s House of Representatives.
The six MPs all came from Bersatu. They were sacked from the party earlier this month, after failing to retract their support for Mr Anwar and not responding to a written instruction from the party’s supreme leadership council to pledge allegiance to the party.
They are Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi (Tanjong Karang), Mr Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Mr Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Mr Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang), Mr Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan) and Mr Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang).
Selat Klang assemblyman and former Selangor Bersatu chairman Abdul Rashid Asari also declared support for the leadership of Selangor chief minister Amirudin Shari. Mr Amirudin is a member of Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
On Tuesday, Muhyddin also said that PN was considering a petition to challenge the PH victory in the Kuala Kubu Bharu state by-election, which took place on May 11.
“We have received information on actions by certain parties that, in our view, have impacted the election results,” he said.
“We have the information, but it is not yet complete,” he added, stating that PN would file a petition once their report is finalised.
PH candidate Pang Sock Tao won the Kuala Kubu Bharu seat, with a 3,869 vote majority, according to the Malaysian Election Commission (EC).
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) member, polled 14,000 votes against PN’s Khairul Azhari Saut, who got 10,131 votes.
On May 20, Selangor PN chief Azmin Ali said he was gathering evidence for an election petition to challenge PH’s victory.
He said Muhyiddin had instructed their lawyers to gather evidence, and all 16 district polling centre chiefs would assist the legal team, according to the New Straits Times.
Mr Takiyuddin Hassan, who is PAS’ secretary-general and opposition chief whip, has also claimed that PH abused its power and misused government machinery before and during the by-election.
On May 6, Mr Takiyuddin said PN would file an election petition should PH win the by-election.
He claimed the coalition has evidence of government misconduct which could allegedly sway voters in the polls.
The statement received criticism from several government leaders, including DAP secretary-general and Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Speaking shortly after PH declared victory, Mr Amirudin said in a statement that the result was a “decision of the people … that they don’t want an agent of division to represent them.”
He added that the win was in recognition of the service of the late assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong, who passed away in March following a battle with cancer.
At the last state election in August last year, the incumbent Ms Lee was re-elected with a majority of 4,119 votes in a four-way contest against challengers from PN, Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), and the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA), retaining the seat for a third consecutive term.
