The Selangor state assembly Speaker Teng Chang Khim’s decision to declare the Port Klang seat to be vacant is “absolute” and “may not be challenged in court”.

However, constitutional expert from the International Islamic University, Abdul Aziz Bari, said that it is only the speaker’s decision pertaining to the rules of the House that is not challengeable.

Hence, the question of whether the vacancy of the seat may trigger a by-election is still looming since the speaker has no jurisdiction over the election process.

NONE “Here we are dealing with the interpretation of the constitution where the power lies with court. But I think the Selangor speaker is in a stronger position as he merely ruled on the basis of the state constitution, just like in Kedah,” said Abdul Aziz ( left ) in an email interview with Malaysiakini .

Abdul Aziz was referring to a similar case in the Kota Siputeh state seat where the Kedah speaker had announced the seat to be vacant after the assemblyperson from Umno had missed two consecutive state assembly sittings in early 2009.

While the High Court had rejected the Election Commission’s application for a stay, ordering a by-election, the Appeal Court had later overturned the decision and granted an interim stay so that the EC can postpone issuing the writ to announce the date for the nomination and polling.

And with that, Abdul Aziz reckoned that the EC would use the case as a precedent to challenge the speaker.

“But legally this is inconsistent with Perak cases; especially those whereby the speaker's ruling was challenged , for example the decision of the speaker to declare the seats belonging to the turncoats as vacant,” he said.

‘Inconsistency in courts when ruling on speakers’

Insisting that the speaker should have the final say in the goings-on of the House, Abdul Aziz pointed to the inconsistency in the courts when it comes to the different speakers in various assemblies.

“The legal issue here is the power of the speaker which brings issues like Apco in Parliament whereby (Permatang Pauh MP and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim) has been suspended.

The problem here is the court has failed to be consistent and the law has become upside down as a result.

“The law on the speaker is that his ruling concerning matters within the House - be it in Perak, Kedah, Dewan Rakyat and now in Selangor - it is final,” he said.

NONE He added that the only person to have the locus standi (legal standing before court) in the issue is the Port Klang assemblyperson himself.

“The EC is just here to conduct elections. It has no other interests,” said Abdul Aziz.

Teng ( right ) had earlier declared the Port Klang state seat to be vacant as of Jan 16, saying that its representative Badrul Hisham Abdullah has been absent for six months since the last assembly sitting he attended on July 15 last year.

Article 69 of the state constitution provides that if a member of the state legislature is absent without leave from the speaker for six months, then the seat is considered vacant.

In the meantime, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof told Malaysiakini that he has not received any notice from Teng and would have to pore through the documentation before deciding on anything.