Malaysian Paralympic Council hauled to court on its panel election

After a tumult that lasted over two months, a presidential candidate in the Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) committee elections has gone to court to invalidate the nomination of former minister Khairy Jamaluddin to contest its top post.

This is part of the relief sought by Megat D Shahriman Zaharuddin in his ex-parte Originating Summons to seek an injunction to prevent the council from holding a related extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Sept 18.

Under law, ex-parte means a legal action filed by one party in a dispute without the presence of the other side.

The ex-parte originating summons was filed by law firm Messrs Kamil Hashim Raj & Lim in the registry of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 10, more than two months after MPC postponed its elections for the second time on June 29.

The council held its annual general meeting (AGM) on June 29.

According to a copy of the originating summons sighted by Malaysiakini, the plaintiff is seeking a declaration that the nomination forms submitted by Khairy, as well as by candidates John Ng Kean Chuan, Nasharuddin Hashim, Siti Zaharah Abdul Khalid and Dr S Radha Kishnan, are null and void.

Ng is the MPC’s incumbent deputy president, with Siti Zaharah being its secretary-general.

Khairy (photo) is also with the Malaysian Wheelchair Rugby Federation, Ng with the Malaysian Ping Pong Association, Siti Zaharah in the Malaysian OKU Lawn Bowl Association, Nasharuddin is with the Malaysian Badminton Association and Radha is in the Malaysian Blind Sports Association.

Megat said his action came because the forms were submitted out of time, on June 15, as the deadline for such submissions was 11.59pm, June 14.

The plaintiff said that the EGM scheduled for Sept 18 should not proceed due to the unresolved issue of the MPC executive committee nominations.

“The EGM on Sept 18, 2019, which is intended to cancel out the previous valid nominations, should not commence because the issue of the defendant’s (MPC) exco member nominations is still not resolved.

“The issue of the defendant’s exco member nominations are based on the five Form 2 (Delegation and Nomination) that were submitted after the deadline, which is before June 15, and should be cancelled immediately from the process of the latest nominations to the defendant’s exco membership,” Megat said.

The plaintiff also contended that the defendant’s incumbent president, SM Nasaruddin SM Nasimuddin, should not hold the EGM on Sept 18 because the letter seeking for the meeting has not been authenticated.

“The letter seeking the EGM should have been cancelled after only 11 members backed the calling of the EGM.

“Based on Article 16.1 (b) of the defendant’s constitution, the seeking by the defendant’s members for an EGM require the support of half the members, which is 12 of the defendant’s members from the total current membership of 24,” he said.

Besides the injunction and the declaratory orders to invalidate the nominations, the plaintiff also seeks for MPC to bear the cost of the legal action and for any other relief deemed fit by the court.

According to the originating summons, the legal action is fixed for hearing before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur at 9am today.

On June 29, the media reported that MPC postponed its elections following controversy over the nomination of Khairy to its presidency a day after nominations were closed that same month. - Mkini