Amendment of Article 48 (4) tough to implement, legal expert says

Focus

By MOHD FAIZUL HAIKA MAT KHAZI

17 Sep 2022 12:54pm

Haniff said the amendment to Article 48 is difficult to implement because the government led by Ismail Sabri does not have the support of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Photo by Rosli Talib

Unlike the Anti-Hopping Act which has the support of almost all members of Parliament, the amendment of the act related to the loss of the status of a member of Parliament may be difficult to pass by two-thirds of the members of the House.

SHAH ALAM - Legal expert believes that it is tough to amend Article 48(4) of the Federal Constitution to overcome the ambiguity of criminal offenders among MPs who are sentenced to prison terms and fines but can still retain their status as representatives of the people.

In fact, if the amendment was presented by the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and debated in Parliament even once, the motion would be difficult to pass because many people's representatives, especially from Umno, did not support it.

The amendment was reported to have a major impact and affect the chances of most of Umno's top leaders including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is currently being tried in court on 47 charges of misappropriation and money laundering involving funds Yayasan Akal Budi (YAB).

Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said the amendment to Article 48 was difficult to implement because the government led by Ismail Sabri does not have the support of a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Therefore, he said, until the government managed to obtain the support of a majority of two-thirds of the members of Parliament from the supporter and opposition blocs, then the amendment remained a 'hope and wishful thinking'.

"Obviously in a fragile government and less than a year left for the 14th Parliament term to mature, we will not succeed in amending Article 48 of the Federal Constitution.

"We can only hope that the new government formed through the mandate in the 15th General Election (GE15) will present a proposal to amend Article 48 of the Federal Constitution.

"However, I do not deny one way to ensure that any political leader who betrays the country from a financial point of view is punished fairly, so we need to amend Article 48 of the Federal Constitution.

"I don't see it being able to be implemented in less than a year," he told Sinar Premium.

He commented on the statement made by National Assembly Speaker Tan Sri Rais Yatim that the government needed to re-examine Article 48(4) of the Federal Constitution when there was confusion and ambiguity involving criminal offenders among members of Parliament sentenced to prison terms and fines but remain as representatives of the people.

On August 23, the Federal Court upheld a 12-year prison sentence and RM210 million fine against Pekan MP for charges of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

Najib is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison, while his place as a BN candidate in Parliament is expected to be replaced by his eldest son, Datuk Mohd Nizar.

Mohamed Haniff explained that Najib will still not be able to contest if GE15 is held in the near future because he is subject to Article 48 Clause 5 of the Federal Constitution.

"Najib can only contest GE15 if he makes a new application in court to suspend the prison sentence and fine on him until the completion of the judicial review and royal pardon process, but that is almost impossible to obtain," he said.