Johari said he had given the justification and reasoning for his decision in a letter dated Jan 16 which he sent to Bersatu.

“As I have replied (in the letter to Bersatu) … that’s it, it is final. It’s up to Bersatu (to refer to the courts). They have the right to do so,” he said in a short reply to Bernama when contacted today.

This morning, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said he wanted the courts to decide on the status of the four MPs who were formerly with his party.

Muhyiddin insisted that Johari had made a mistake in interpreting Article 49A(3) of the Federal Constitution, which deals with party-hopping among MPs.

The Perikatan Nasional chairman implied that it was improper for Johari to make a decision on the matter since he was a PKR member.

Papar MP Armizan Ali, Khairul Firdaus Akhbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Matbali Musah (Sipitang) had said earlier that they were leaving Bersatu to form a new party.

The four MPs had been elected on the GRS ticket, while Bersatu was part of GRS.

However, after the general election, GRS dropped Bersatu as a coalition member.

The coalition was also aligned with the unity government led by Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim.

Muhyiddin said Bersatu’s constitution stated that a member automatically loses their membership if they joined another political party.

Nonetheless, he said this did not affect the four MPs as they were members of the party during GE15 while Bersatu was a founding component party of GRS.