Sept 7 set to hear appeal, stay bid on Sabah Legislature dissolution
The Court of Appeal has set Sept 7 to hear an appeal by Musa Aman and 32 others against the dissolution of the Sabah Legislative Assembly.
The three-member bench today also set Sept 7 to hear an application by former Sabah chief minister Musa and several others to stay the decision of the High Court in Kota Kinabalu, which dismissed their legal challenge against the dissolution...
The Court of Appeal has set Sept 7 to hear an appeal by Musa Aman and 32 others against the dissolution of the Sabah Legislative Assembly.
The three-member bench today also set Sept 7 to hear an application by former Sabah chief minister Musa and several others to stay the decision of the High Court in Kota Kinabalu, which dismissed their legal challenge against the dissolution.
The bench, headed by Court of Appeal judge Yaacob Md Sam, fixed the date during open court proceedings this morning.
On Aug 21, the High Court dismissed an application by Musa and 32 others for a judicial review against the dissolution of the Sabah Legislative Assembly, removing the hurdle for the state to hold its election on Sept 26.
During the proceedings this morning, the appellants’ lawyer Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad made the application to postpone the hearing of the appellants’ application to stay the High Court decision.
The Court of Appeal was initially set to hear the stay application today.
“We make an application to hear the (stay) application at another date. The (stay) application was filed on Aug 24 and served (on the respondents) yesterday.
“The Sabah State Attorney-General and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) have indicated they wish to file affidavits to oppose the application,” Fuad said, adding that the respondents have no objection to the bid to postpone today’s hearing.
Fuad also applied for Sept 4 to be set as the hearing date of the main appeal by Musa and the 32 others, because the Nomination Date for the upcoming Sabah state elections is Sept 12.
“The reason we seek Sept 4 is because the nomination day is on Sept 12, which may render this appeal nugatory,” the lawyer said.
The Sabah polls have been set on Sept 26, while nomination day is set on Sept 12.
Sabah State Attorney-General Brenndon Keith Soh informed the Court of Appeal today that the respondents instead wished to seek for Sept 7 be set to hear the main appeal.
Soh said this is because parties would still have sufficient time to prepare for the appeal proper before the nomination day.
Soh represented three respondents in the appeal, namely Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal, Sabah Governor Juhar Mahiruddin and the state government.
Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan, who is from AGC, informed the court that they also seek for the hearing date of the main appeal to be set on Sept 7.
Suzana is acting for the Election Commission, who is one of the four respondents in the appeal.
The court then set Sept 7 to hear both the stay application as well as the main appeal.
Fuad then informed the bench that the appellants would be withdrawing a separate stay application filed earlier at the Kota Kinabalu High Court.
The other two members of the Court of Appeal bench today are judges P Ravinthran and Ahmad Nasfy Yasin.
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