PETALING JAYA: Former minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan disagreed with the Court of Appeal’s decision today to strike out Musa Aman’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to dismiss his claim as the rightful Sabah chief minister.
While stressing that he respected the court’s decision, Rahman said the main issue was not whether current Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal had the support of the state assemblymen or not.
“The far greater and more significant issue that needs to be decided by the Court of Appeal is whether the Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negeri has the power to sack an appointed chief minister or not.
“The people actually want the wise judges of the Court of Appeal to make an interpretation of the constitution because failing to make that interpretation will cause Sabah’s politics to be constantly in turmoil,” he said in a Facebook post today.
He added that the process of sacking a chief minister should align with the spirit of democracy and not be decided by the head of state.
“It should be returned to the state assembly, the place where the people’s voice dwells.”
The Kota Kinabalu High Court had on Nov 7 last year struck out the former Sabah Umno chief’s originating summons seeking a declaration that the swearing-in of Shafie as chief minister by governor Juhar Mahiruddin was unconstitutional.
Judge Yew Jen Kie had, in her ruling, cited a 2009 case which returned Barisan Nasional (BN) to power in Perak following a controversial Federal Court judgment.
Yew said the Federal Court in Putrajaya had laid down the legal principles that there was no mandatory requirement for a motion of no confidence against a chief minister before he could be considered as having lost the confidence of the majority of assemblymen.
Musa, who had named Juhar and Shafie as defendants, was initially sworn in as chief minister in a delayed ceremony a day after the May 9 elections, but defections by BN assemblymen tipped the state assembly majority in favour of the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Juhar later swore Shafie in as chief minister, but Musa refused to resign, saying Shafie’s appointment was unconstitutional.
Earlier today, a three-member bench had allowed a preliminary objection by Douglas Lind, the counsel for Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal who is the second respondent in Musa’s appeal.
Justice Kamardin Hashim, who read the judgment, said they were allowing the preliminary objection, which effectively struck out the appeal, as they agreed with Shafie’s lawyer that the case was academic.
Musa’s counsel Tengku Fuad Ahmad said they were disappointed with the outcome and that they would take the case to the Federal Court as soon as possible. - FMT
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