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PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by 33 former Sabah assembly members to challenge the consent granted by Governor Juhar Mahiruddin to dissolve the state legislature.
This means that the September 12 nomination day set by the Elections Commission for the 73 seats in the state legislature will proceed as scheduled.
A three-member bank chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who issued the unanimous ruling, said Judicial Commissioner Leonard David Shim did not make an appealable error in rejecting the request for permission for judicial review on August 21.
“The appeal is dismissed and we affirm the Superior Court’s ruling,” Karim said.
He added that Governor Juhar Mahiruddin’s decision is not justiciable (it cannot be challenged in court) and the dissolution is not subject to judicial review.
“The court cannot interfere in matters related to dissolution. The governor had exercised his discretion in accordance with the Sabah constitution, ”he said.
The other members of the bench were Abu Bakar Jais and Supang Lian. Karim said the court would provide a written judgment later.
Attorney Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who represented former Prime Minister and former Sungai Sibuga Assemblyman Musa Aman and 32 former elected representatives, then requested an oral stay of today’s ruling pending appeal to the Federal Court.
“There is a special circumstance to justify the suspension of the verdict until it is resolved in the Federal Court,” he said.
However, Sabah Attorney General Brenndon Keith Soo, representing the governor, said that the application should be rejected as there was no pending appeal because the applicants’ authorization for judicial review had been rejected.
Lawyer Cyrus Das, who appeared before Acting Chief Minister Shafie Apdal and the state government, said the suspension request should be rejected as the nomination for state elections will take place in 72 hours.
“The Electoral Commission has taken all the necessary steps to mobilize 30,000 staff members and 73 tellers,” he said.
In addition, he said that Sabah’s constitution states that elections must be held within 60 days after dissolution.
He said that those candidates who want to compete should know what their position is, “he added.
Das added that the 33 men should submit a formal request to stay today’s ruling.
Federal attorney Suzana Atan, who appeared for the Attorney General (AG), said the suspension should not be allowed because there were no respondents: the governor, Shafie and the state government.
“The 33 did not obtain permission from the court to initiate a judicial review process,” he added.
During the licensing stage, the Attorney General may participate in the proceedings, but in this case the Superior Court invited attorneys for the Governor, Shafie, and the state government as alleged defendants, as complex constitutional issues arose.
The court then ruled against granting an oral stay, but ordered the 33 appellants to submit a formal request to the Federal Court.
On July 29, Shafie sent a letter to Juhar, requesting the governor to dissolve the legislature due to political instability following attempts to overthrow the Warisan-led government.
The next day, Juhar issued a proclamation to celebrate the state elections.
Musa and the 32 former representatives then took the position that Shafie could not advise the governor to dissolve the house as he had lost the majority support of the state assembly members.
Musa insisted that he could form the next government with 33 of the 65 seats in the Sabah legislature.
