DUN Speaker to appeal against reinstatement of Dr Ting as Pujut assemblyman by Appellate Court
Mohamad Asfia (left) in a light moment with Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas upon arrival at the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Complex on the 6th day of the state legislative assembly sitting yesterday.
KUCHING: The Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) will appeal against the recent decision by the Court of Appeal to uphold the decision of the High Court to reinstate Dr Ting Tiong Choon as Pujut assemblyman.
Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar said he would instruct his advocates to make an application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court.
According to him, if the recent decision of the Court of Appeal were to stand, it would have a crippling effect on other legislative assemblies in the country and the Dewan Rakyat in enforcing certain very crucial provisions.
“If the decision of the Parliament and the Speaker of the House can be challenged in the court of law, and the court overrules the decision of the Parliament and the Speaker of the House, then the Parliament and the Speaker of the House cease to function,” he said in the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.
Mohd Asfia said the provisions in the constitution should be read in harmony with other constitution provisions to effectively forward the whole intent of the Parliament.
“In light of these circumstances, it is inevitable I have to instruct my advocates to make an application of leave to appeal to the Federal Court.”
Earlier, he said Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mary Lim delivered her dissenting judgement on Dr Ting’s case before the decision was made last Friday.
He said Lim was of the view that Article 19 of the Sarawak State Constitution ought to be given a broad meaning, and that there was jurisdiction to call in question the qualification in the august house the issue of Dr Ting acquiring foreign citizenship.
“The more appropriate interpretation given to the various articles of our Sarawak State Constitution, Article 17, 16, 18 and 19 was given by Judge Datuk Mary Lim.
“That brings life to the whole intent of the Constitution to prevent such awkwardness or mischief that the august house would not be able to deal with and the disqualified person from taking oath and sitting in the Dewan,” added Mohd Asfia.
He also pointed out that the interpretation given by Court of Appeal judges Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal “are too restrictive”.
Last Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the House had no jurisdiction to disqualify Dr Ting over his acquisition of Australian citizenship, which he later renounced prior to the May 2016 state election.
“The state assembly only has jurisdiction to determine the status of a member whose disqualification was incurred after his election.
“To go backwards to determine the status of a person before he was elected would amount to overreach by the state assembly, which in my view has no constitutional support in the state constitution,” said Abang Iskandar, who chaired a three-man bench.
Harmindar agreed with Abang Iskandar’s judgement while Lim dissented.
As such, the appeal by Asfia, Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce and Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and the DUN against the High Court decision were dismissed, with no order as to costs.
Prior to this, High Court Judge Datuk Douglas Cristo Primus Sikayun had ordered Dr Ting to be reinstated as the rightful elected representative.
On May 12 last year, Wong moved a motion in the august house to disqualify Dr Ting over allegations that the latter had held Australian citizenship.
The DAP man then filed a suit to challenge his disqualification.
The High Court, in its decision on June 17, made it clear that the DUN’s move to disqualify Dr Ting was unlawful given that the House had acted beyond its constitutional limits.