PUTRAJAYA: The Sabah election should be halted as an “illegally installed chief minister” had advised the governor to dissolve the state assembly on July 30, the Federal Court heard today.
Lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin said former chief minister (CM) Musa Aman would not enjoy the fruit of his litigation should the apex court declare his dismissal by the governor in May 2018 as unconstitutional.
The election should have stayed until the Federal Court heard and disposed of Musa’s appeal, he said in his submission before a three-member bench chaired by Abdul Rahman Sebli today.
The other judges are Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Mary Lim Thiam Suan.
Firoz is appearing for former Tamparuli assemblyman Jahid @ Noordin Jahim, who filed the application on Tuesday to stay Governor Juhar Mahiruddin’s decision to dissolve the assembly pending the disposal of the “two chief ministers” dispute between Musa and Shafie.
“A political and constitutional crisis will take place and the people will feel cheated because an illegally installed chief minister (Shafie) had advised the governor,” he said.
He said that to avoid political turbulence and on the balance of convenience, the election was both unconstitutional and unnecessary.
He said Musa had been waiting for a long time and had obtained leave from the Federal Court to hear the merit of his complaint, but then there was a dissolution to pave the way for an election.
On Aug 26, the Federal Court, in a majority 2-1 ruling, allowed Musa’s leave application seeking a declaration that he was the rightful Sabah chief minister after the conclusion of the 15th state election in 2018.
Firoz suggested that Musa’s appeal be heard and decided next week while tomorrow’s nominations should be pushed back.
“Election can be held on or before Sept 28 to meet the 60-day deadline (to hold the polls) as required under the state constitution,” he said.
Lawyer Cyrus Das, representing Shafie, said the application was an abuse of process because Musa’s appeal before the Federal Court has no connection to the dissolution.
“Jahid is relating the dissolution to an incident that happened in May 2018 that Musa was unlawfully removed as chief minister,” he said.
He said Jahid, a former minister in Musa’s Cabinet, was only a collateral figure in the dispute over the dismissal of Musa by the governor.
“None of the 10 leave questions posed before the Federal Court to get leave touched on the dissolution,” he said.
Das said the Court of Appeal on Tuesday had also affirmed the finding of the High Court that the dissolution of the house was not a subject the court had jurisdiction to hear.
Jahid was also one of the 33 applicants to challenge the dissolution and the appellate court had also dismissed their oral stay to suspend the election.
Das said Musa and Jahid should have applied for a stay to stop the election after the Federal Court granted leave to Musa on Aug 26 as the Election Commission (EC) had issued notice to hold the polls on Aug 17.
“They ‘switched track’ to use the pending CM dispute before the Federal Court to stop the election now,” he said.
Sabah Attorney-General Brenndon Keith Soh, who appeared as a friend of the court for the governor, said Jahid did not name the head of state as party to his stay application though the decision to dissolve the house came from Juhar.
Representing Speaker Syed Abas Syed Ali and state assembly secretary Bernard J Dalinting as defendants, Soh said the “reset button had been set to elect assemblymen and later to form the government”.
He said the state legislature would take shape within 120 days from the date of the state election.
“Failure to hold the polls within that time will frustrate the setting up of the executive and legislative arms of the government,” he said.
Federal counsel Suzana Atan, who represented the EC, also as a friend of the court since it was not named as a party by Jahid, said all steps were underway to hold the election with nominations fixed for tomorrow.
The hearing continues at 3pm. - FMT
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