Badrul still Port Klang rep
By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider
SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — Badrul Hisham Abdullah remains the Port Klang assemblyman after the High Court here today ruled that the Selangor Speaker had unlawfully declared the Umno man’s seat vacant.
Datuk Teng Chang Khim declared on January 19 that Badrul Hisham was no longer a member of the state assembly for being absent from its proceedings without valid reason for six months from July 16 last year.
Badrul Hisham’s lawyer, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, today argued that Teng had erred when calculating the six-month period of absence from July as there was no state assembly sitting then.
Firoz Hussein said the first-term Speaker should have begun calculating from the November 8 sitting, which was the first sitting Badrul Hisham was absent from.
“He computed it from the period in July when YB Badrul was actually present and that is actually a very unusual and bizarre interpretation of the (state) constitution,” he said.
Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof made the decision after rejecting Teng’s argument that he could not be sued as Speaker.
Teng had said in his affidavit-of-reply that his decision as Speaker could not be challenged in court as both federal and state laws supported the doctrine of separation of powers between the state legislative assembly and courts.
He had pointed out that he was granted immunity from being sued as Speaker by Article 72 of the Federal Constitution and Article 77 of the Selangor Constitution, and asked that Badrul Hisham’s suit be dismissed as it had no legal basis.
Badrul Hisham’s lawyer, however, argued today that parliamentary immunity did not apply in this instance as Teng’s decision to declare the Port Klang seat vacant had not been made during state assembly proceedings.
“The decision here is completely consistent with the Federal Court’s rulings in the past on what parliamentary immunity consists of,” Firoz Hussein said.
Zaleha also ordered Teng to pay Badrul Hisham RM40,000 in costs.
Badrul Hisham said he was thankful for the court’s decision today as his constituents have the right to have their chosen representative serve them.
“My victory today is a victory for the people of Port Klang,” he said.
