KOTA KINABALU: Sebatik assemblyman Hassan Gani Amir gets to keep the seat he won under the Parti Warisan ticket as the court ruled that the undated resignation letter he was compelled to sign before the 2020 state election was unlawful.
Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Justice Wong Siong Tung declared so after striking out a legal bid by Parti Warisan to force incumbent Hassan Gani to vacate the state seat.
In his ruling yesterday, the judge said that an elected representative should be able to act on his own independent judgment and should not be legally constrained by the party or the electorate.
He said the combination of undated signed resignation letters and pledge of loyalty to Warisan prior to the 2020 state election equalled an unlawful scheme.
“Any cause of action based on such an arrangement to deprive such freedom cannot be sustained in law,” he said.
“The appropriate penalty of the elected member of legislature for broken political promises is for the voters or electors to consider voting differently at the next opportunity.”
Warisan, represented by its secretary-general Datuk Loretto Padua in the suit, was also ordered to pay RM5,000 in costs to Hassan.
Warisan had filed a suit to declare the Sebatik seat vacant as Hassan had won it on a Warisan ticket in the Sept 26, 2020, snap state elections.Hassan had defected to the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government on Feb 25, 2021.
In Warisan’s pleadings, Padua sought to enforce the alleged “Pledge of Loyalty” and the “pre-signed undated letter of resignation”, both of which were allegedly undertaken and signed by Hassan.
Hassan, who was defended by Tengku Datuk Fuad Ahmad had argued earlier that the use of such “alleged” undated signed letters had gone against Parliamentary democracy and the Federal Constitution.
Warisan was represented by Goldam Hamid and Syful Sufyian Sidin. The party is expected to appeal the verdict.
The party has initiated similar legal actions against other assemblymen who had defected to align themselves with GRS parties over the last 12 months.
