Nine board members of Pertubuhan Peladang Kebangsaan (National Farmers Organisation) filed a judicial review application on July 6 to overturn their suspension.

The application is against the registrar of the Pertubuhan Peladang, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub and the government to lift the suspension order imposed on them by the registrar.

The suspension took effect on May 28. As a result, the association cannot function nationwide nor act on behalf of the farmers it represents.

The plaintiffs are the association’s directors: Sylvester Entri Anak Muran, Mohd Nazri Abdullah, Mustaffar Kamal Ab Hamid, Ali Shikh Ahmad, Ibrahim Jahaya, Abd Lateh Mohd Saman, Ramli Norani, Ismail Umar and Nazilah Abd Latif.

They claimed to have received suspension letters on June 1 due to alleged administration problems. Upon receipt of the suspension letters, they sent letters of appeal dated June 6. The minister’s office received the letters on June 13.

No response from minister since then

However, to date, there has been no response from the minister. They had been given 14 days to file an appeal to the minister.

As a result, the nine filed the judicial review application on July 6 seeking a court declaration for Salahuddin to reply to their letter and to quash the suspension order.

Alternatively, they are seeking a declaration that the minister's failure to respond results in the suspension to be unlawful.

The association's lawyer, Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said that following the case management today, the High Court judge in Kuala Lumpur, Justice Azizah Nawawi, called on the plaintiffs to give the minister more time to reply.

Justice Azizah also fixed July 30 to hear the association's application for leave should the minister fail to reply by then.

Haniff told reporters that he is puzzled as there has not been any reply from the minister despite the June 13 acknowledgement of the letters.

"Even if we had sent a letter to the Attorney-General's Chambers, we would have received a reply (by now)," he said.

Salahuddin was previously reported by Berita Harian as saying that the suspension followed “serious administration, competency and transparency problems” within the organisation.