KUCHING: No one who has held a foreign citizenship before is allowed to become a Member of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN).
Minister of Natural Resource and Environment, Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said yesterday that former Pujut State Assemblyman, Dr. Ting Tiong Choon should not have been nominated in the first place.
“If the matter was known much earlier by the authorities, he (Ting) would not pass the pre-requirements to even contest himself even though he has kept his Malaysian citizenship.
“Therefore, disqualifying him was the rightful thing to do by the members of the DUN,” said Junaidi when interviewed after launching the new Surau Nurul Hidayah at Kampung Cemerlang here yesterday.
Although this was the first disqualification of a legislative member in Malaysia, it had happened before in England from which Malaysia adopted its legislative system, he added.
“Even if the people has voted to choose the person to represent them, if there are doubts, especially on fulfilling the pre-requirements of a legislation, then he can be stripped from being a member.
“Ting may attempt to challenge the matter in court. But if the court states that the decision was made under the privileges of the DUN, then court does not have a say on it due to the separation of power.
“The DUN has two powers, also known as its privileges. One is the freedom to speak complying to a few guidelines of laws and two, the freedom to administer its internal matters.
“Even so, he (Ting) can still bring the case to the court, but chance of winning is pretty slim,” said Junaidi.
