A former army captain is suing the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the government for allegedly conspiring to reduce the dignity of the armed forces by slashing the pay of its officers.

This is former military officer Tengku Zainal Abidin Tengku Yusoff’s sixth lawsuit of a similar nature, after the court dismissed his previous claims in 1995, 2001, 2007, 2012 and 2015.

However, this is the first time Tengku Zainal Abidin is naming the Agong in his suit, and he is also acting on his own, instead of claiming to represent another 403 other officers.

Speaking to reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex when filing his suit this morning, Tengku Zainal Abidin explained that one of the issues of contention is the status of officer cadets.

“From the first suit till today, all the judges refused to make a ruling on whether officer cadets are officers or not officers. We have no choice but to keep filing.

“They will say that it is res judicata (the matter has already been decided by a court and should be put to rest), they would say there is a time bar, and they will say everything, but I - in 1980 - told (then prime minister Tun) Hussein Onn to table this matter in the cabinet because what mistake that came from the cabinet must go back to the cabinet.

“So, from 1980 till today, they did not make any attempt to bring this matter to the cabinet and the thing is still hanging,” Tengku Zainal Abidin said.

Suits to be filed across the country

He added that many of the 403 officers would be filing separate suits across the country.

Those named in the suit are Tunku Abdul Halim Tunku Badlishah, who is the Sultan of Kedah and the current reigning Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the prime minister, the chief secretary to the government, the chief of armed forces, and the government.

Tengku Zainal Abidin is the sole plaintiff of the suit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

According to his statement of claim, the dispute stems from a Royal Commission of Inquiry appointed in 1963 to review the pay scales of the civil service, except that of staff of Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) and the armed forces.

He claimed that the armed forces continued to be sidelined until 1971, when the then prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein proposed to the first plaintiff to form a committee to study the armed forces’ pay scale. This later became the ‘Tan Sri Sheikh Abdullah Report’.

However, Tengku Zainal held that this ‘low class’ committee had no standing to study the armed forces’ pay because it was a cabinet appointee and not a royal commission.

“The first defendant (the Agong) should take into account the impact of its implementation and should not have given his assent so easily, although the first defendant was performing his duties under Article 40 of the Federal Constitution, and the first defendant is wrong in accepting any advice of the second defendant (the prime minister) although it gives a negative impact to the Malaysian Armed Forces.

“The first defendant should have objected by not assenting to the second defendant’s proposal because it would condemn the Malaysian Armed Forces to the extent that it would threaten the position of the Malay Rulers... ” the statement reads.

Tunku Abdul Halim is currently serving his second five-year term as the Agong. He was serving his first five-year term at the time of the royal assent, between 1970 and 1975.

Tengku Zainal Abidin also argued that statutory time limits on filing suits against government decisions do not apply in this case, as it is a continuous action by the government.

Among others, he is seeking a court declaration that the Tan Sri Sheikh Abdullah Report is invalid and against the Royal Commission of Inquiry Ordinance 1950, and that the report’s finding that military officers had been receiving expatriate pay is untrue.

The interpretation that officer cadets are not considered officers should also be declared null and void.

Tengku Zainal Abidin is also seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as special damages for ‘conducting over 35 years of research between 1980 and 2016 in Malaysia and in Europe’.