KJ rebuts Nazri: Court decisions legally binding

No, the Court of Appeal ruling on the unconstitutionality of a section of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA) is not "merely an opinion of the court", says Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

In taking this stand, Khairy opposed the position taken by Minister in Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz yesterday that Section 15(5) of the UUCA is still a valid law despite the judgment made on Monday.

In fact, the judgment of the court is legally binding, and it's not an "opinion", Khairy said today.

"No, it's binding. Court decisions and the constitutionality of the law are (legally) binding," he told the press after meeting with three out of the four former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students who won their case on the matter against the government on Monday.

Nazri, who is the de facto law minister, had insisted that the Appeal Court ruling was merely the "opinion of the court", that it was "just obiter dictum(an opinion in passing) of the court".

Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah and Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu were also present.

Saifuddin said he had met with several cabinet ministers to ask them not to take the case to the Federal Court.

He said if the government decided to appeal, then it will lose morally, even if it was successful in winning the appeal in the Federal Court.

"If you appeal, even though you win (legally), you are considered to have lost from the moral perspective. If you lose legally, you lose morally (as well), which is twice.

"That's a very big loss and we're going to the general election. We cannot afford to lose so many battles before going to the general election," Saifuddin added.

[More to follow]