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PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The Federal Court rejected a request to stop the state elections of Sabah, whose nomination is tomorrow and the voting on September 26.
The request was submitted by former Tamparuli Assemblyman Datuk Jahid @ Noordin Jahim to suspend the state elections pending the resolution of an appeal as to who is the legitimate Sabah Chief Minister, be it Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal or Tan Sri Musa Aman .
Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, who headed a three-member tribunal comprised of Judges Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Mary Lim Thiam Suan, maintained that the court was not persuaded to exercise its discretion in granting the stay.
“Our decision is unanimous. We fully appreciate the importance of preserving the integrity of the applicant (Jahid) but, at the same time, we are also aware of the importance of preserving the integrity of the democratic process through an election.
“Having seriously considered the matter, we are of the opinion that, on the balance of convenience and greater public interest, the application is very far from the interest of the applicant,” he said on Friday (September 11).
Under the circumstances, Judge Abdul Rahman said, the panel dismissed the request without a warrant on costs.
Jahid had submitted the request on Tuesday (September 8) naming Mohd Shafie, the Speaker of the Sabah Legislative Assembly, Datuk Seri Syed Abas Syed Ali, and the Secretary of the State Assembly, Datuk Bernard J. Dalinting, as respondents. .
In his request, he requested that the Sabah government bulletin be suspended on July 30 until the Federal Court decided the appeal.
It also sought to suspend the proclamation of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of July 30 for the dissolution of the 15th legislature of Sabah under article 21 (2) of the Sabah constitution pending the conclusion of the appeal.
Musa, who was present in court, also filed a similar request at 6pm on Thursday (September 10). However, the court did not hear his case as attorneys for the defendants said they need time to respond to his request.
Musa and Jahid obtained permission from the Federal Court on August 26 to proceed with the appeal on their challenge to the validity of Mohd Shafie’s appointment as Prime Minister of Sabah.
A three-member bench headed by Federal Court Judge Mohd Zawawi Salleh, in a 2-1 majority decision, allowed Musa and Jahid’s applications to obtain permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision. Judges Abdul Rahman and Zabariah ruled in favor of both, while Judge Mohd Zawawi disagreed.
Both Musa and Jahid had their appeals dismissed by the Court of Appeals on November 28 last year. A litigant must first obtain a license in order to proceed with the appeal to Federal Court.
Earlier in today’s proceedings, attorney Datuk Cyrus Das, representing Mohd Shafie, had submitted a request to Judges Abdul Rahman and Zabariah to recuse themselves from hearing the case on the grounds that there would be a real risk of bias. as they were the two judges. who issued the majority ruling in the request for a license hearing.
However, both judges said they would remain on the stand as there was no valid reason for them to recuse themselves.
At first, lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who represented Jahid and Musa, urged the court to allow the stay on the grounds that if Musa was successful in his appeal over him as the rightful chief minister, then the dissolution of the The state legislative assembly would be invalidated because Mohd Shafie’s advice for Yang di-Pertua Negeri to dissolve the assembly would have come from an “illegal prime minister.”
“In case the court does not grant the suspension, the election will proceed and subsequently if the court rules that Musa is the legitimate prime minister, it would provoke a constitutional crisis in Sabah,” he said.
Das responded by saying that the suspension request is an abuse of process, as Musa’s appeal on the issue of the legitimate prime minister is different from that of the dissolution of the state assembly.
He also said that halting the elections will affect 1.12 million voters, as well as more than 200 candidates in the 73 constituencies. – Bernama
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