Pujut issue: Crucial to address possible loopholes in law, says Balingian rep

KUCHING: A member of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) believes that there might be some loopholes in the law that if not addressed properly, would allow for more controversial cases such as that of Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon to recur in the future.

Balingian assemblyman Abdul Yakub Arbi said the government through the Home Ministry (KDN) must set a proper guideline on matters involving potential election candidates wishing to denounce their foreign citizenship at the 11th hour simply to stand for the polls.

“The Malaysian government, particularly the KDN must set a proper guideline on this; otherwise many more would want to take advantage of the crack in the system,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Abdul Yakub also expressed his disappointment with the High Court’s ruling against the DUN’s decision to disqualify Dr Ting as assemblyman.

“Dr Ting might have gone through the EC (Election Commission)’s qualification as a candidate because there was no way EC could prove that he’s not a Malaysian citizen. Dr Ting again passed through the Election Court’s net because the KDN did not address his dual citizenship fully – legally, he still is a Malaysian citizen having relinquished his Australian status.

“However at the DUN, we got him for dishonestly concealing his dual citizenship from the authorities like the Immigration Department and the KDN – according to the law, it is mandatory for him to report.

“So the issue that prompted us to dismiss him as a DUN member is that particular act of bringing disrepute to the DUN by such concealment,” he stressed.

Abdul Yakub also insisted that the DUN proceeding could not be questioned by any court of law, in view of Article 72 of the Federal Constitution and DUN (Powers and Privilege) Ordinance, which says so.