A 15th by-election looming in Selangor?

Rumours of a possible 15th by-election have surfaced alleging that former Selangor PKR assemblyperson Badrul Hisham Abdullah has failed to attend state assembly sittings for over half a year.

Article 69 of the Selangor constitution states that a member of the legislative assembly who is absent for a period of six months shall have his or her seat declared vacant by the speaker.

It was Sin Chew Daily daily that reported today that Badrul Hisham (left) had been reported missing from the assembly for six months and raised the possibility of a by-election.

Apparently, Badrul Hisham last attended the state assembly on July 16 last year. He did not attend the budget session in November.

As such, if he could not provide a medical certificate or other compelling reasons to the assembly speaker on Jan 16 (tomorrow), he will be considered absent without valid reason for six months.

This will empower the speaker to inform the Election Commission that the seat has been declared vacant, thus triggering a by-election, which must be held within 60 days.

Badrul Hisham's aide issues denial

However, an aide of Badrul Hisham has late this evening denied that the Port Klang representative had failed to attend the assembly meeting over the past six months.

The aide, who requested anonymity, said Badrul Hisham did not attend the budget session from Nov 8 to 11 due to ill health.

An official letter was sent to assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim informing him about the Port Klang assemblyperson’s inability to attend the session, said the aide.

The aide told Malaysiakini that he had a record of Badrul Hisham’s attendance.

“YB (Badrul Hisham) called me this evening and asked me whether it was true that he had failed to attend the assembly in the past six months as reported by Malaysiakini. I said it was not true.”

The controversial Port Klang assemblyperson left PKR to become a BN-friendly independent in 2009.

Prior to his resignation he had been reported ‘missing’ for some time, before re-emerging with an announcement of his departure from PKR to become an independent

At a press conference on Oct 29, 2009, Badrul Hisham declared his intention of retaining his position as an independent assemblyperson and said he was not threatened or coerced into making the decision.

Badrul Hisham won the Port Klang seat in 2008 under the PKR ticket with a 4,407 majority.

He received a total 12,397 votes against Roselinda Abd Jamil's (Umno) 7,990 and Nazir Mansor's (Independent) 580.

Teng in the dark

Meanwhile, Selangor speaker Teng told Malaysiakini when contacted this afternoon that the rumour did not originate from him.

“What you are relating to me is news to me. I do not know as I did not issue any statements on Badrul Hisham. The news did not come from me,” he said.

Asked whether Badrul Hisham did indeed miss the assembly sitting for the past six months, Teng replied that he had to check his records first before confirming the matter.

Since the last general election in March 2008, the country has already seen 14 by-elections. The most recent will be held in Tenang, in Labis, Johor following the death of its assemblyperson Sulaiman Taha.

Nomination day for Tenang by-election is on Jan 22 while polling will fall on Jan 30 if there is a contest.

PAS has expressed interest in contesting the seat and will announce its candidate tomorrow, while BN will announce its candidate on Wednesday.