Court order sought to bar State Assembly dissolution
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee and three individuals are seeking a court order barring the Sabah Chief Minister from advising the Yang Di Pertua Negeri (TYT) to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly.
Yong, a former chief minister, had sought the declaration pending the outcome of an appeal in the Court of Appeal against a High Court’s decision on April 23 this year.
On that day, High Court judge Justice Azhahari Kamal Ramli dismissed a legal action initiated by Yong and six individuals who sought the court’s order that the Prime Minister be compelled to table the Election Commission’s report on the 13 new Sabah State Assembly seats in Parliament.
Justice Azhahari in dismissing the plaintiffs’ legal action, held that they had no locus standi to do so and that the issue was academic since Parliament had been dissolved on April 28, paving the way for the 13th general election.
The judge however agreed with the group’s contention that the Prime Minister had no discretion of not tabling the EC report on the 13 additional Sabah Assembly seats as it was deemed mandatory as spelt out under Section 9 of the 13th Schedule of the Constitution.
(The issue arose as the Sabah Assembly had passed amendments to the State Constitution providing for an increase in the number of State Legislative Assembly seats from 60 to 73.
(However, in the absence of the EC report on the electoral boundary delineation for Sabah being tabled in Parliament by the Prime Minister, the number of State Assembly seats remained at 60 during the polls.)
In their originating summons filed at the High Court on Tuesday, Yong and Datu Shuaib Datu Mutalib who are voters in the state seat of Likas and Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat) as well as Edward Dagul (Kawang, Papar) and Japril Suhaimin (Kundasang, Ranau) stated that the continued absence of the EC report being tabled in Parliament was a “remaining unfulfilled procedure in the delineation of the constituencies in Sabah.”
“This is an assault and a violation of the Sabah Constitution,” they argued in their Originating Summons filed by the legal firm Gloria Legal and counsel Yong Yit Jee.
In their Originating Summons Yong and the three others said the Sabah Chief Minister who was the sole respondent in their Originating Summons, had the constitutional duty to preserve, protect and defend the State Constitution.
They also stated that the Chief Minister was constitutionally required to prevent any assault and violation of the Constitution by not requesting or advising the Yang Di Pertua Negeri to dissolve the State Assembly pending the outcome of the Appeal against the April 23 High Court ruling.