Feb 28 to hear motion for leave to appeal on Dr Ting’s status as rep
KUCHING: Feb 28, 2019 has been fi xed for the hearing of the motion for leave to appeal to the Federal Court by State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nasar and Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh against the Court of Appeal decision that Dr Ting Tiong Choon remains as Pujut assemblyman.
Lawyer Tan Kee Heng when contacted said the date was given during the case management yesterday when all counsels of the case were updating the Deputy Registrar of the Federal Court Khainur Aleeza Ismail on the status of the matter through emails without attending court.
In civil matters at the Federal Court, leave or permission has to be gained for the full merits to be heard.
The state election was held on May 7, 2016. Subsequently, Dr Ting was disqualified as a state representative on May 12, 2017 in a motion tabled by Wong, who is also Bawang Assan assemblyman.
Dr Ting filed an Originating Summons in the Kuching High Court on June 7, 2017 to challenge the DUN’s decision.
On June 17, 2017, High Court Judge Datuk Douglas Christo Primus Sikayun ruled against the DUN’s decision to disqualify Dr Ting as Pujut assemblyman, awarding RM100,000 to the plaintiff.
Douglas said the DUN has no express powers to deal with an election result and that it is not a competent body to decide constitutional issues.
On top of that, the Speaker did not afford Dr Ting adequate time to defend himself, and also had not given the opportunity to Dr Ting. The High Court Judge even went on to say that 8,899 Pujut voters’ interests should also be taken into consideration.
Douglas also stressed that it was not right for the Speaker to take on the role of prosecutor and that the rule of natural justice had not been complied with and adhered to.
With that High Court decision, Dr Ting has been restored as Pujut assemblyman, rendering a by- election unnecessary.
On July 13 this year, the Court of Appeal in a two-to- one decision dismissed the appeals of the DUN, its speaker Asfia and Wong against the High Court’s decision to reinstate Dr Ting as Pujut assemblyman.
Presiding judge Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim also held that the DUN had no jurisdiction to decide on disqualification of Dr Ting because the disqualifying factor happened before the election.
He said by virtue of the wording of the Sarawak Constitution, it only gives the DUN the power to disqualify a member for postelection offences.
Abang Iskandar also said that the DUN proceeding where most members of the august house voted in favour of Dr Ting’s disqualification was null and void because of the lack of jurisdiction.
The other two Court of Appeal judges who sat with Abang Iskandar were Datuk Harminder Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan.
Harminder Singh also agreed that the appeals be dismissed.
Lim, when delivering her dissenting judgement, held that Dr Ting clearly had no qualification to be elected as a state assemblyman because he took Australian citizenship and pledged allegiance to a foreign power.
She added that Dr Ting’s renunciation of Australian citizenship did not qualify him to be the state elected representative and he therefore remained disqualified.
In stating that she did not agree with the majority decision, Lim said the right to sit in the DUN is part of parliamentary privilege. She was of the view that the DUN has the power to disqualify Dr Ting and that the DUN has power and jurisdiction to decide on this issue.