The Bar Council has questioned the constitutionality of including Section 9A in the Election Act 1958, following a court decision declaring the Likas election result null and void.

Its president Lim Chee Wee said whether the courts can challenge the validity of the electoral roll or not should be a constitutional question.

"I, as a lawyer, doubt the constitutionality of the amendment," Lim told an international forum on the 13th general election (GE13) in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

The amendment was inserted into the Act by the government after the court decision deeming the electoral roll during the 1999 Likas by-election in Sabah to be flawed and therefore not valid.

Because non-citizens were put into electoral roll

This was due to the inclusion of non-citizens and individuals convicted of possession of fake identity cards in the electoral roll.

NONE Section 9A, which was later introduced, states that once certified, the electoral roll is final and thus exempt from any kind of judicial review.

Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang, who spoke after Lim, urged Malaysia to consider drafting a proper guideline for a caretaker government to oversee the country during election periods.

Kit Siang cited examples in other countries where the government and the relevant agencies would have contingencies for power handovers.

The caretaken government would walk through with both the incumbent and contesting opponents on what would happen for an orderly transition so that they would know what to do.

The DAP national adviser lamented that such convenient guidelines do not exist in Malaysia.