309 royal heirs seek to revise court decision on inheritance land

 

The heirs named the Terengganu state government as the respondent in their application to the Terengganu shariah court of appeal. (Reuters pic)

KUALA TERENGGANU: A total of 309 heirs of Sultan Zainal Abidin III have filed an application for a revision against the Terengganu shariah court of appeal’s decision here on the status of half of the Cap Zuriat Sungai Mengkuang (CZSM) land reclaimed by the state government in 1923.

Syarie lawyer Musa Awang, representing the heirs, said the application was filed by Tengku Ibrahim Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin on behalf of the heirs based on Article 49A(3) of the Law for the Self-Government of Terengganu.

“In their application, the heirs named the Terengganu state government as the respondent,” he told reporters at the court here.

He said the heirs, among others, applied for the court to declare that half of the CZSM land still remained as undivided inheritance and that the land, measuring over 5,463ha in the Kemaman district, which had been developed as Felda areas, be replaced with any other land through the “istibdal” (replacement) method.

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The lawyer said Tengku Ibrahim had, in 2003, filed a division and inheritance claim against the state government for the estate of the late Sultan Zainal Abidin III.

He said that in 2005, the Kuala Terengganu shariah high court had ordered the state government to issue a title deed for half of the land in the name of Sultan Zainal Abidin III or pay compensation in a form deemed appropriate according to the current value of the property.

The court also ordered that the inheritance land be divided among the rightful heirs, he said.

“The state government then filed an appeal against the court decision and on July 16, 2007, the Terengganu shariah court of appeal panel allowed the appeal and ruled that the previous court decision was void.

“The decision, however, did not mean that half of the land was no longer inheritance land. The shariah court of appeal’s decision did not touch on or resolve that issue,” he said.

In fact, Musa said no shariah court had ever declared that half of the CZSM land was no longer Sultan Zainal Abidin III’s inheritance.

The lawyer also said that in August 2020, after obtaining a power of attorney from 245 heirs of Sultan Zainal Abidin III, Tengku Ibrahim appointed a lawyer to represent the heirs in matters relating to the application and settlement of the land issue.

“Since the land had been developed as Felda areas, it can be replaced with any other land by the state government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tengku Ibrahim said they had convened meetings with state government representatives and had repeatedly sent letters to the menteri besar to discuss the matter since May last year, but had not received any response thus far.

“That’s why we had to take this matter to court today,” he said.

Sultan Zainal Abidin III was the sultan of Terengganu from 1881 until his death in 1918. - FMT