VERDICT ON RIGHTFUL CM ON NOV 7
Date fixed after 5 hours of oral submissions
THE much-awaited verdict on who is the rightful Sabah chief minister will be made known on Nov 7.
High Court judge Datuk Yew Ken Jie fixed the date after listening to five hours of oral submissions.
The arguments were presented by counsels of former Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Musa Aman, current Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
Musa was represented by counsels Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad and S. Vanugopal, while Shafie was represented by counsel Datuk Douglas Lind. Sabah Attorney-General Datuk Zaleha Rose Pandin represented Juhar.
During proceedings, Tengku Fuad argued that the Yang diPertua Negeri had no power under Article 6(3) of the Sabah Constitution to swear in Shafie as the chief minister when Musa was already sworn in.
He said Musa had not lost the majority’s confidence, adding that it was never tested when six BN assemblymen pledged their support to Shafie. He said Musa was not given reasonable time to call for dissolution.
“In fact, he is eager to test the confidence of the assembly and we also submitted the TYT (Juhar) has no power in light of Article 10(4) to require him to resign or treat the chief minister as if he has resigned.
“The Article 7(1) only comes into play when the assembly expresses its voice. The expression of voice is either by vote of no confidence or if the government is unable to pass certain laws that are fundamental to the state government’s exercise. None of that was present in our case.”
In his oral submission, Vanugopal submitted Sabah BN, as a political party, had won the majority of the state seats (29 seats), compared with Parti Warisan Sabah (21 seats).
“Musa, as the party leader, is entitled to be appointed as chief minister in accordance with Article 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution. The subsequent support for Sabah BN from Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) merely bolstered Sabah BN’s majority in the assembly. Star’s two additional seats did not matter in the appointment of Musa as chief minister.”
Douglas argued Musa no longer commanded the majority of the assembly when six BN assemblymen supported Warisan, which had a pact with DAP (six seats) and PKR (two seats) — a coalition described as loose and not registered by Musa’s counsels.
“Whoever controls the assembly by number becomes the government. Therefore, Musa has lost confidence by virtue of Article 7(1) and he has to tender his resignation.”
Under the Article 7(1), Zaleha pointed out that the word “shall” meant it was mandatory for Musa to tender his resignation. The said article states if the chief minister ceases to command the confidence of a majority of members of legislative assembly, then, unless at his request the Yang diPertua Negeri dissolves the assembly, he shall tender the resignation of members of cabinet.