The recent media report that Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Khaled Nordin has yet to present the controversial Johor Housing and Property Board Enactment for the sultan of Johor’s royal assent was hardly surprising to me.

A few days ago, the Johor menteri besar had stated that there are still some teething problems needing to be addressed before the state authorities will forward it for the sultan’s assent. Such delay in presenting the enactment to the sultan for his royal assent is unprecedented.

It has been the Johor Pakatan Rakyat’s stand that there are some fundamental flaws with the proposed enactment which needed further consultation and discussion before it ought to have been tabled in the House for voting.

As expected, the enactment was passed in the Johor legislative assembly on June 9, 2014 with 38 BN assemblypersons voting for it and 18 Pakatan Rakyat assemblypersons abstaining.

As one of those who debated after the second reading of the bill, I have in my allocated time pointed out several issues or deficiencies with the said enactment namely, in relation to Section 16 of the enactment and non-compliance with a federal act requirement. On a side note, this is the first time since the establishment of the Johor state government in 1895 that a debate after second reading actually took place.

Section 16 (1) and (2) actually deal with disclosure of interest by members of the board and established committee. Note, firstly, this section does not mention the director/CEO appointed under Section 12 that is going to run the board on a daily basis. Secondly, and more potently, Section 16(3) expressly stated that:-

“No act of proceeding of the board or committee shall be invalidated on the ground that any member of the board or committee has contravened the provisions of this section.”

This is nothing less than shocking as the proviso in Section 16(3) is a ‘get out of jail’ card for affected persons who did not disclose their interest. What is the point of the whole Section 16 if there is no sanction or penalty consequence for non-adherence?

That is not all. This Housing Enactment is the legislative instrument for the creation of a Johor Housing and Real Property Board. Pursuant to Section 3 read together with Clause 5 Second Schedule of the Incorporation (State Legislatures Competency) Act 1962, since this is a housing development board, it is mandatory that the federal government must have three representatives as members of such a board or corporation.

And clearly if one were to refer to Section 4 of the said Housing Enactment, there is absolutely no mention of the three federal representatives in the board membership composition.

Ironically, the menteri besar who had previously reminded us that this Housing Enactment was very similar to the Johor Corporation Enactment 1968, actually contained in Section 4(f) of the 1968 Enactment, the requirement of three representatives from the federal government. So why is it, that this Housing enactment omits such an important point?

Open to legal challenge

To summarise, Article 75 of the federal constitution has stated that in the event of conflict between federal and state law, the former shall prevail and the latter to the part of inconsistency shall be void. That means, if the enactment was to receive royal assent and become law, it is open to legal challenge.

In their haste to pass the enactment, the Johor state government has neglected to fine tune the content of the enactment to the extent of existence of absurd clauses such as Section 16 and even to the point of illegality.

I have even taken the liberty of writing to the state legal adviser on June 12, 2014 expressing my legal concern on the enactment but till today I have yet to receive any reply.

The above two issues are just the tip of the iceberg. It was imperative that an enactment as important as this should have been allocated more time for fine-tuning and a bi-partisan committee ought to have been formed for the benefit of Johoreans.

Alas, political pride takes precedence and now they must reap what they sowed.

JIMMY PUAH WEE TSE is Johor PKR Legal Bureau chief-cum-state assemblyperson for Bukit Batu.