THOSE urging the Election Commission to reject the police’s requirement for permits for door-to-door campaigning in the Tg Piai election are ill-advised about the law, as the EC cannot defy the police or ask candidates to do the same, its chairman said. 

Azhar Azizan Harun said this includes the opposition, after its leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it planned to sue the EC, and elections watchdog Bersih 2.0, which urged Azhar to reject the police’s requirements.

Azhar said he is ready to face legal action from the opposition and to answer for it in Parliament, as a motion against the requirements is to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow.

“The allegation against me by (opposition Leader) Ismail Sabri totally lacks merit and is reflective of the siege mentality suffered by some politicians who are out to gain sympathy.

“His suggestion that I should advise the police on matters that are solely within the purview of the police is bewildering if not astounding.

“Hasn’t he heard of the principle of administrative law that disallow public officers from acting ultra vires the law or his or her powers?” Azhar said in his response to the Umno leader.

Ismail Sabri had said the opposition planned to sue the EC and table a motion in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow regarding the new requirements, which Umno leaders have called “extreme”.

Although Azhar had yesterday said that the decision on the new requirements was the police’s and not the EC’s, Ismail Sabri had said the EC should have advised the police on election-related issues.

“I welcome all legal action and am always ready to go to Parliament to answer (for) any kind of charges regarding my undertakings as EC chairman at any time. 

“If not, perhaps in getting the legal advice that (Ismail Sabri) intends to get to sue the EC, he should also be getting some advice of the doctrine of ultra vires,” Azhar said, referring to the EC’s inability under the law to act against the police. 

To Bersih’s statement that the EC should reject the police’s conditions, Azhar said the election reforms group should know that “I was appointed as chairman of the EC to uphold the law and not to disregard the law”.

“It would be illegal for the EC to ask people to defy an directive issued by the police in exercising the powers given them by the laws of the country.

“I must state that the EC will not at my rate encroach or transgress upon the powers and jurisdiction of any other institutions, especially the police.

“The police are always acting with the safety of the nation in their mind and I will not question their decisions,” he said. – November 13, 2019.