Nga said it also does not reflect the practices of a mature democracy or political culture as it allows politicians to become assemblymen via a “backdoor”, Utusan Malaysia reported.

He added that Pakatan Harapan (PH) will embark on a campaign to protest the decision by collecting signatures from Johoreans who oppose the move.

“These appointed assemblymen aren’t elected by the people. They don’t have a constituency that they serve, but receive the salaries of an assemblymen and have the power to raise issues and vote on bills in the state assembly.

“Such moves actually contravene the Federal Constitution, which clearly states that assemblymen must be elected by the people and cannot be appointed,” he was quoted as saying.

Nga expressed hope that the Johor government would review the decision, saying anyone who wishes to serve in the state legislative assembly must contest in the state election.

Despite protests from PH, the Johor state assembly passed a constitutional amendment bill on Thursday that will allow the appointment of five unelected assemblymen, increasing the total number of state representatives to 61.

This made Johor the fourth state to have appointed assemblymen, after Sabah, Terengganu and Pahang.