BERSATU membership termination letters sent out to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and four others are invalid as it was issued and signed by someone without the authority to do so, said a lawyer aligned to the five.

Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said Bersatu organising secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya is holding a position that is not acknowledged in the party constitution.

He added that Suhaimi, as the organising secretary, has no executive powers to make any decisions or interpretations of the party constitution as he had done in his letter to the five yesterday.

“Suhaimi as the organising secretary has also failed, or refused to reveal who ordered him to issue the letters, and if these parties do indeed have such powers to instruct him to issue the letters,” he said in a statement.

Haniff said Suhaimi has wrongly used the provisions of the party constitution in his letters.

“As such, the letters to inform the five that they have lost their party memberships are invalid and not effective by law.”

Haniff, a close aide of Dr Mahathir, said he would discuss with the latter on legal actions to be taken over the issue.

Yesterday evening, Suhaimi’s termination letters to Dr Mahathir, party deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir, Kubang Pasu MP Amiruddin Hamzah, youth chief and Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik became public.

In the individual letters to the five, Suhaimi wrote that their party memberships had ceased with immediate effect, due to their decision to sit in the federal opposition bloc during the May 18 Dewan Rakyat proceedings.

Their removal was immediately disputed by the five, saying it was unlawful and had no basis in the party’s constitution.

In a joint statement, they said Muhyiddin was “clearly playing politics during the current Covid-19 and economic crisis”.

“We cannot be said to have left the party as we have only been doing what is allowed under the law and within our rights according to the federal constitution as members of Parliament.

“Our removal (from the party) is illegal and denies us the right of reply and to give an explanation,” the five said in a statement after news of their expulsion earlier yesterday evening.

On another development, party secretary-general Marzuki Yahya issued a letter to relieve Suhaimi of his duties.

Marzuki’s position as the secretary-general itself is in dispute after he was removed by party president Muhyiddin Yassin, and replaced by Hamzah Zainuddin in late March. – May 29, 2020.