GEORGE TOWN, Sept 1 — The Penang government will not hold any special sitting of the State Legislative Assembly to amend the State Constitution over Article 14A (on anti-party hopping), thus it remains as a piece of legislation.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the proposed holding of the special sitting could not be upheld, otherwise, it would be a loss to the voters of Penang.
“The proposal by DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng for the Penang Legislative Assembly to convene the special meeting at the end of September to amend the State Constitution with regard to Article 14A cannot be endorsed.
“I am taking this opportunity to state and repeat the decision of the State Executive Council meeting held last August 15 that Article 14A would remain and there would be no special meeting to amend this article,” he said in a statement, here, today.
Lim, who is also Air Putih state assemblyman and Bagan MP, had urged the special meeting to be held to enable the State Constitution to be amended with regard to anti-party hopping so as to be in line with the Federal Constitution
Chow said Article 14A provided for, among other things, sacking from a political party as an excuse to leave a state seat vacant although such a sacking was not provided for in the amended Federal Constitution. It must be remembered that Article 14A was enacted and passed with a two-thirds majority at the State Legislative Assembly in 2012.
“This was done when everyone including Lim and I were fully aware that the Supreme Court’s decision in 1992 on an individual’s right for association under Article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.
“Before the Federal Constitution was amended, four individuals had taken legal action to challenge the validity of Article 14A and the Penang Government asked that the question of law be referred to the Federal Court on whether Article 14A was constitutional or not.
“I had issued a statement last July 29 that Penang planned to amend the provision so as to be consistent with the amended Federal Constitution,” he added.
Chow reminded that the Penang State Legislative Assembly had in 2012, decided to proceed with Article 14A based on the belief that Penang voters had the right to have a stable and capable government, and respected the mandate given.
He said taking a different position now would affect Article 14A, more so when it had been upheld by the unanimous decision of the Federal Court, hence would be a deceit of the public’s trust.
— Bernama
