Ting speaking at the press conference. To his left is SUPP Women chief Kho Teck Wan.
KUCHING: Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting is taking the federal government to court over its decision to relocate the Registry of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
He said this is in view that the federal government did not consult the Sarawak government on the matter which is a breach of the Federal Constitution.
“I feel that this kind of breach must not be allowed especially when it affects Sarawak’s rights.
“If there is anything that is not helpful to Sarawak, we must bring the matter to court for them to make the decision,” he told a press conference at SUPP headquarters here today.
Ting stressed that he is bringing the issue to the High Court here in his capacity as an elected representative of Piasau and a fellow Sarawakian.
“If we don’t do anything, who knows what will happen next? So we must make sure that this must be stopped.
“Going to court is the only way to protect Sarawak’s interest and that is very important for me because it is my duty to protect Sarawak,” he emphasised.
He disclosed that he has consulted his legal team and they are looking at naming Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliamentary Affairs) Datuk Liew Vui Keong as one of the defendants.
“We are looking at the federal government and the de facto law minister (Liew). We may even consider whether there is a need to include the Prime Minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) because he was the one who advised our Agong.
“These are all inter-related starting with the (de facto) law minister and going up to the federal government itself because it is a breach of constitution. Likely, these are the three [defendants],” he said.
The relocation of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak Registry, which will come into effect on May 1, has caused an uproar among the legal circles in Sarawak.