Veteran parliamentarian Karpal Singh has suggested to newly-minted independent members of parliament to be absent from Parliament for six months to pave away for by-elections in their constituencies.

In this way, the existing MPs can run again, this time as independents to prove they have the support of their constituents.

According to the election law, an elected representative who quit his or her seat is banned from contesting for five years.

parliament 180209 karpal singh But if they are absent from Parliament for six months, and their seats are subsequently declared vacant, this is not deemed as a resignation, argued the lawyer-politician.

Citing Article 52 (1) of the constitution which reads that "if a member of the House of Parliament is without the leave of the House absent from every sitting of the House for a period of six months, the House may declare his seat vacant", Karpal proposed that the MPs voluntarily stay away from the assembly for the stipulated period. 

"We therefore urge the (former) PKR MPs who became independents to step down and enable by-elections to be held in their seats for their constituents to decide once again whether they support (them)," said Karpal.

Banned for five years

"They have won under the PKR ticket so it is morally wrong for them (to resign) without getting the consent of their own constituents to be in the Dewan," he added.

Karpal was referring to four PKR MPs - Zahrain Hashim (Bayan Baru), Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri (Bagan Serai), Tan Tee Beng (Nibong Tebal) - all of whom have quit PKR - and Zulkifli Noordin (Kulim Bandar Baru), who was sacked by the party.

The former PKR representatives argued that they cannot step down from their seats as demanded by the opposition as they would be banned from contesting for five years, effectively ending their political career.

Elaborating further, Karpal said when Semangat 46, now defunct, was formed in 1988, it had with them a sizeable pool of MPs who had left Umno to join the party.

At the time, Semangat 46 leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah announced that its MPs would resign every three months for by-elections to be held to seek a new mandate.

At the time, there was no Article 48 (6), which states that a serving elected representative must be disqualified from contest in the polls should he resign.

"So, then premier Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) amended the constitution by including that clause into Article 48 to prevent Semangat MPs from resigning just to force a by-election. A by-election is a barometer."

He adds that since this law bars the former PKR MPs from seeking reelection, should a by-election is held, Article 52(1) of the Federal Constitution can be invoked.

We will expose Zahrain

In another development, Karpal challenged to Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim to file the defamation suit against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Zahrain told Parliament yesterday that he was mulling over the suit due to Lim's alleged claims that he had been bought over.

“I challenge Zahrain to sue the chief minister so that I can put Zahrain in the witness box and expose him,” said Karpal.

“DAP does not runaway from a challenge, I call upon Zahrain to file that action in court if he is brave enough... when he gets into the witness box, he may find it difficult getting out because we will nail him in once and for all.”

Met later, Zahrain brushed off Karpal's challenge and said that he should first direct his concerns to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, whom he (Zahrain) claimed had lost the confidence of the people.

“Karpal was also disappointed when Sept 16 did not happen... he too was upset with Anwar,” said Zahrain, in reference to Karpal's scathing criticism against Anwar's leadership.

Asked if he would be absent from the House sitting to pave way for a vacancy as suggested by Karpal, Zahrain replied: “I love my job... I am still in service to my people”.