KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Batu MP Chua Tian Chang and his party — PKR — must have sighed with relief today when the High Court fined him RM2,000 or two months’ jail for biting a police officer outside Parliament in November 2007.
But the RM2,000 fine has caused confusion over whether he is disqualified as an MP.
Alarmed by the poser, Chua’s lawyers say they are seeking an immediate meeting with High Court judge Datuk Ghazali Cha to clarify the provision under Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution.
“We sent a letter to the judge’s secretary just after 6pm today asking to meet him tomorrow to clarify,” Chua’s lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad told The Malaysian Insider.
“The time has not been fixed but we hope to hear some news tomorrow morning,” Amer added.
Some lawyers contacted by The Malaysian Insider contend that the RM2,000 fine disqualifies him as an MP.
His original sentence of a RM3,000 fine and a six-month jail term would have meant Chua losing his Batu parliamentary seat.
Under Article 48 of the Federal Constitution an MP is disqualified if he is convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a fine of not less than RM2,000.
Legal experts say the key words in Article 48 which would disqualify Chua are “a fine of not less than RM2,000.” A plain reading of this would mean that an MP is disqualified if he is fined RM2,000 or more.
Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi from Universiti Teknologi Mara agreed that a fine of RM2,000 would mean Chua would be disqualified.
The Bar Council’s constitutional committee chief, Edmund Bon, admitted that a “logical reading of the federal law would point to an automatic disqualification”.
But the confusion is further compounded by the judge today who said he wanted to reduce Chua’s original sentence to prevent disqualification and the need for a by-election, Bon pointed out.
“It is a basic principle in criminal cases that when there is a doubt on the ruling, the interpretation to take is one that favours the accused or the appellant,” he elaborated.
The best course of action now would be for the parties to seek out the judge immediately to clarify the situation, Bon stressed.
Bar Council president, Ragunath Kesavan, said his professional view is that the phrase ‘not less than’ means the threshold amount that would automatically disqualify Chua would be higher than RM2,000.
But he was stressed that it is the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat who is the rightful authority that decides if Chua remains an MP, and not the courts.
“The court can only decide on ‘x’ amount of the fine. The speaker is the one who decides if he is in or out. If the Speaker’s view is that RM2,000 is the threshold amount for being out, he can write to the Election Commission and inform them there is a vacancy and call for a by-election,” Ragunath told The Malaysian Insider this evening.
In October last year, Chua had been found guilty by the magistrates’ court for obstructing a police officer from performing his duty.
“It’s considered a victory,” the PKR MP better known as Tian Chua told reporters earlier after the decision before rushing off to pay his reduced fine before the counter closed at 4pm.
If Chua does not pay the fine, he will have to spend two months behind bars.
The smiling Chua briefly added that he was surprised by the decision and appreciated the judge taking into consideration the burden another by-election would have on the economy.
In his oral judgment this afternoon, Justice Ghazali noted a by-election would incur more spending of public funds and advised Chua to be more mindful of his behavior.
“An MP is a leader in his constituency and a role model to the rakyat,” Justice Ghazali said.
Chua insisted he was innocent of the offence but did not elaborate further if he would appeal against his conviction at the Court of Appeal.
Chua’s lawyers, led by Amer, explained later the High Court had made two decisions today: while it had significantly reduced the sentence for Chua, Justice Ghazali upheld magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu’s conviction on Oct 22 last year that the MP was guilty of biting 21-year-old Constable Rosyaidi Anuar.
Amer added that if the MP wished to overturn the “guilty” verdict, he must file an application with the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya.
The lawyer also noted the prosecution could appeal against today’s High Court decision to reduce Chua’s sentence with the appellate court; and added they had 14 days to do so.
