Muhammmad Rafique Rashid Ali said being trained in law and being a former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker, she should know the process for amending the constitution and passing laws.
“As federal MP, she has crossed the line by meddling in the affairs of the state government and its legislature, more so when a state election will be held soon,” he said.
Rafique said it was for the new Melaka government to draw up an enactment or amend its constitution after getting input from its state legal adviser or outside legal experts.
“A Bill can be passed with a simple majority while an amendment to the state constitution requires two-thirds majority support of its 28 assemblymen,” he said.
Rafique said Azalina, as the special adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on law and human rights, should focus her attention on expediting the passing of a law at federal level to stop MPs defecting to another party and destablising the government.
“She should be talking to the prime minister to pass a recall election law to have a fresh election if an MP crosses over to another party or becomes an independent,” he said.
The lawyer said this in response to Azalina’s statement that an anti-hopping law in the state was among the topics on the table during her meeting with Melaka governor Mohd Ali Rustam.
Azalina said an anti-hopping law would effectively prevent elected representatives from jumping parties and uphold the democratic system in Malaysia as well as maintain the country’s political and economic stability.
Lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar al-Mahdzar said Azalina was an “outsider” and should not be discussing an anti-hopping law for Melaka with the head of state.
He also said any law passed or any amendment to the constitution must be carefully crafted to ensure it was not declared unconstitutional.
He cited a Federal Court decision in the well-known case of Nordin Salleh (Sungai Pinang) and Wan Mohamed Najib Wan Mohamaed (Limbongan) who won under the then-Semangat 46 ticket in the 1990 general election.
However, both defected to Umno in 1991. The Kelantan state assembly amended the state constitution and passed an anti-hopping law that took retrospective effect from Nov 18, 1990.
The speaker declared the seats vacant and both men contested again in by-elections, but lost.
The duo then sought legal remedy and the Supreme Court in 1992 held that the amendment to the state constitution was designed to enforce party discipline, not impose restrictions on state assemblymen.
The court said the amendment breached Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed freedom of association.
Nordin and Wan Mohamed were subsequently reinstated as assemblymen.
Melaka is set for a state election on Nov 20, with nominations set for Nov 8.
The election came about after Ali dissolved the state assembly on Oct 5 when four state assemblymen said they had retracted support for chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.
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