Unfair to ask PAS reps who join Amanah to quit seats, says Dr Dzulkefly

It is unfair to ask parliamentarians who are now aligned with PAS splinter group Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), to resign from their seats as they will be banned from re-contesting for five years, says GHB secretary Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, August 23, 2015.It is unfair to ask parliamentarians who are now aligned with PAS splinter group Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), to resign from their seats as they will be banned from re-contesting for five years, GHB secretary Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said today.

In a blog post responding to calls led by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for elected reps to vacate their seats, Dr Dzulkefly said that the current system is "unfair" towards elected representatives who choose to resign.

Hadi said yesterday that those who won in the 2013 general election on the PAS ticket and who will join Parti Amanah Rakyat, should resign as elected reps for breaking an oath sworn to the Islamist party.

Amanah Rakyat, created by GHB, is expected to be launched on Merdeka Day.

Most of those who are aligned to GHB have already resigned from party positions, but retain elected positions and PAS memberships for the time being.

"Resigning is also not part of our convention. The latest example is Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, who still retains both seats," Dr Dzulkefly wrote.

Khalid, the former Selangor Menteri Besar, remains a Port Klang assemblyman and a Bandar Tun Razak MP, despite being sacked by PKR, under whose ticket he contested in 2013.

Dr Dzulkefly said that parliamentary seats are not the "exclusive right" of a certain party as victories in polls were due to various other factors.

"The seats are not the exclusive right of a party alone, especially if the party is seen to have diverted from the path of policies that allowed it to win those seats in the first place," he said.

He said whether the party factor was the biggest contributor to wins can only be assessed when there is competition, thus such judgments must be made in the next general election.

- TMI