‘TYT has the power to appoint Shafie’
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negeri had the discretionary power to appoint Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal as Chief Minister based on the evidence before him, the High Court here ruled.
Kuching-based High Court judge Datuk Yew Jen Kie said the statutory declaration from six defecting Barisan Nasional assemblymen pledging support for the Parti Warisan Sabah president was evidence to Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
She said the pledge of support was proof that Shafie had the assembly’s majority support and this fulfilled the requirement for a CM to run the state government.
After reading her 47-page judgment for over two hours, Justice Yew dismissed Tan Sri Musa Aman’s suit seeking the High Court to declare him as the rightful Sabah CM, and to declare his removal by the Governor as illegal and against the Sabah Constitution.
The ruling was based on two main issues – whether the Governor was acting within his constitutional power when he purportedly dismissed Musa as CM, and whether the Governor’s appointment of Shafie was null and void.
Justice Yew based her judgment on several cases referred by counsels from both sides, including the 2009 Perak Mentri Besar case when the Sultan had removed a sitting Mentri Besar who refused to resign and replaced him with a successor who had the majority in the assembly.
Though Sabah differed from Perak, which is a constitutional monarchy, it was still applicable in several instances, including gathering reliable extraneous sources to determine the loss of majority.
On other arguments, Musa’s refusal to step down as CM meant that he and his state Cabinet were deemed to have vacated their respective offices, paving the way for the new Cabinet to be formed.
The judge ruled that the Governor had the power to appoint Shafie as CM although he had earlier sworn in Musa on May 10.
She also ordered Musa to pay RM45,000 in costs to Juhar and Shafie to be divided equally.
Musa was represented by Tengku Fuad Ahmad and S. Venugopal while Shafie was represented by Datuk Douglas Lind.
Juhar and the State Speaker were represented by state Attorney General Zaleha Rose.
Musa, in a statement later, said he had instructed his lawyers to file an appeal.
After the hearing, a large group of Shafie’s supporters waited outside to cheer him while chanting “Sabah Baru”.