Lawyer: Let courts decide if Musa or Shafie legally appointed CM

Bastian Pius Vendargon says the judge will have to interpret the Sabah state constitution and find an answer to the dispute.

Sabah Governor Juhar Mahiruddin appointed Musa CM on May 10 and Shafie CM two days later.

PETALING JAYA: The courts will have to determine first whether Musa Aman or Shafie Apdal is the rightfully-appointed Sabah chief minister before declaring if Monday’s state legislature meeting is valid, a constitutional lawyer said.

Bastian Pius Vendargon said Musa and Shafie were appointed CM in a space of two days by Sabah Governor Juhar Mahiruddin.

“The courts have to first determine the validity of Musa and Shafie’s appointments on May 10 and May 12 respectively,” he told FMT.

Vendargon said this in response to whether Shafie’s appointment had been validated since he had won the vote of confidence in the state legislature yesterday.

He said the question that had to be answered by the courts was whether the governor could revoke Musa’s appointment and then proceed to make Shafie the next chief minister.

Vendargon said one has to interpret the Sabah state constitution and apply constitutional law cases to find an answer to the dispute.

He said even if Musa was declared the legally-appointed CM, he has to test the floor to determine whether he enjoyed the support of the majority of assemblymen.

Vendargon said Monday’s meeting would be valid if the court finds the appointment of Shafie was constitutional.

At a special sitting, the 43 assemblymen present voted for the motion in support of Shafie.

They comprised 39 elected members and four nominated members. Sabah’s constitution provides for 60 elected members and another six to be appointed by the winning party or coalition of parties.

The May 9 general election ended in a hung assembly with the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the Parti Warisan Sabah-led alliance both winning 29 seats. The remaining two seats went to Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), led by its president, Jeffrey Kitingan.

STAR threw its support behind BN, giving them a majority of 31 seats. Musa who is state BN chairman was sworn in as chief minister.

However, subsequent defections from Umno and Upko swung the majority to the Warisan-led alliance, and Warisan president Shafie Apdal took the oath as chief minister.

Musa, who is challenging Shafie’s appointment, said the meeting of the legislative assembly was an attempt to undermine his court action.

On June 6, Musa dropped his suit against Sabah governor Juhar Mahiruddin and Shafie. He instead filed an originating summons which allows the case to proceed without the parties having to be present in court.

Musa’s lawyer Tengku Fuad Ahmad said with the originating summons replacing the original writ of summons, there would only be paperwork and submissions, minus the requirement for a trial. -FMT