Abang Johari Tun Openg
KUCHING: The State Legislative Assembly (DUN) will appeal against the High Court’s decision yesterday to reinstate Dr Ting Tiong Choon as Pujut assemblyman.
Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said it would file an application with the Court of Appeal, albeit they respect the decision.
“We respect the decision of the court. You know, the court is more focused on points of law. So we will appeal to a higher court, the Court of Appeal,” he said when met by reporters at SK Rakyat in Satok here today.
Abang Johari said they would leave it to the state Attorney General (AG) as to when to file the appeal.
“Up to the (state) AG. (State) AG represents us,” he added.
The High Court here yesterday ruled against the decision made by the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) and restored Dr Ting as Pujut assemblyman.
Following such a decision, there will be no Pujut by-election, which was previously fixed on July 4.
Dr Ting was disqualified in a 70-10 vote in favour of a ministerial motion in the DUN on May 12 for having once acquired Australian citizenship, though he later renounced it.
Correction: An earlier version of this story carried the headline: ‘State govt to appeal against court’s decision to reinstate Dr Ting – Abang Johari’, and the first paragraph that stated: ‘The state government will appeal against the High Court’s decision yesterday to reinstate Dr Ting Tiong Choon as Pujut assemblyman.’ Both instances of ‘State govt’ and ‘state government’ are incorrect; it is the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) that will file the appeal. We apologise for the error.