MALAYSIA’S Election Commission has behaved in an “unprecedented” way over the disqualification of two opposition candidates in GE14, Singapore paper The Straits Times (ST) said.

Incumbent Batu MP Chua Tian Chang, better known as Tian Chua, was barred from defending his seat due to a RM2,000 fine for insulting a policeman – a decision by the EC’s returning officer that went against a court judgment allowing the two-term MP to contest.

Another PKR candidate, Dr Streram Sinnasamy, did not manage to file his candidacy after being prevented from entering the nomination centre for the Rantau state seat, on the grounds that he did not have an entry pass issued by the EC.

Quoting political observers, ST said both disqualifications were “unprecedented in recent times”.

“It is practically unheard of for the EC to ignore a court judgment, while there are no laws regarding entry pass requirements to become a candidate,” ST said.

The returning officer who disqualified Chua had cited a constitutional provision barring a person convicted of an offence from contesting if he or she is imprisoned for not less than one year, or fined not less than RM2,000.

However, the High Court’s judgment on Chua was that he would only be disqualified if the fine was RM2,001 and above.

Previously in 2011, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had also ruled that Chua would remain a lawmaker over an earlier offence for which he was fined RM2,000.

In Streram’s case, the anaesthesiologist said he was given the runaround by the EC the day before nomination day on obtaining an entry pass for candidates.

He had tried to comply with instructions to get a pass, but was told to come early on nomination day instead.

Electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 condemned Streram’s disqualification, which resulted in a walkover for Barisan Nasional candidate Mohamad Hassan, the Negri Sembilan caretaker menteri besar.

“(A) Nomination centre is open to anyone to walk in to submit their nomination. The tag is more important than the constitutional right of the rakyat?” Bersih said in a tweet. – April 29, 2018.