Court bins Klang MP, Pandan voter’s legal challenge against GE15

Incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago and a Pandan voter failed in their legal bids to prevent the 15th general election (GE15) from being held during the flood-prone monsoon season late this year.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon dismissed the originating summons by the DAP member as well as the judicial review leave application filed by Pandan constituent Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar.

The verdicts were delivered by judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid in the legal actions targeting caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Election Commission (EC), and the government as the three respondents.

The judge ruled that the dissolution of Parliament is not a subject matter that the judiciary has the power to hear.

Previously, the respondents’ legal team contended that the legal challenges are academic as GE15 has already been fixed for Nov 19.

During today’s online proceedings, Kamal said both legal actions involve non-justiciable matters (an issue that the court has no authority to hear) as they are linked to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s constitutional power to consent to the dissolution of Parliament.

The judge noted that despite both legal challenges claiming to be targeting the request by Ismail Sabri for the Agong to dissolve Parliament, it still gets caught by non-justiciability because His Majesty actually has power under the Federal Constitution to refuse the request for dissolution.

Kamal noted that if the court was to take the issue of the prime minister’s request as something the court has the power to hear, it would have the ultimate effect of making justiciable the issue of the Agong’s constitutional discretion to consent to or reject such a request, as per Article 40(2) and 55(2) of the Federal Constitution.

Kamal pointed out that in relation to the claim in both legal actions that Ismail Sabri needed to get cabinet approval before requesting the Agong to dissolve Parliament, he disagreed with this contention as the Federal Constitution empowers the prime minister not to consult the cabinet before bringing such a request to His Majesty.

The judge said this is in line with the prime minister as being the head of the cabinet, and that he has the power to appoint, promote, and dismiss its members.

“The prime minister does not need to consult his cabinet to (bring to the Agong) a request to dissolve Parliament. He is entitled to make his own decision as it is his absolute right as premier.

“As dissolution comes under Article 40(2) of the Federal Constitution, the cabinet’s consultation is not required.

“The Agong (has power) to dissolve Parliament under his own discretion, based on a request from the prime minister.

“The Agong is not bound by the prime minister or cabinet’s advice to perform his duty under the Federal Constitution,” Kamal said.

After dismissing the legal actions, Kamal ordered Charles to pay RM20,000 in costs to the three respondents, while making no order to costs in relation to Syed Iskandar.

Appeals to be filed

At the end of the proceedings, Syed Iskandar’s counsel Gopal Sri Ram informed the court that his client would be filing an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Charles later issued a statement saying he will be appealing against the decision as well.

“With the utmost respect to the learned judge, and after having perused the grounds of judgment, I think that this decision places too much power on the prime minister.

“I also feel that citizens should not be imposed with costs for bringing matters of public interest to the courts. I was surprised that the defendants actually asked for cost of RM200,000 against me.

“We will ventilate these points in the appeal,” he said.

Charles was represented by lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

Ismail Sabri, the EC, and the government were represented by senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, as well as a team of lawyers led by former Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.

Today was set for a decision on the application by the three respondents to strike out Charles’ originating summons, as well as Syed Iskandar’s bid for leave to proceed with his judicial review.

70k personnel from various agencies on standby to face floods - Hamzah

Young voters want social media-literate leaders of calibre

Minister urges caution as flooding hits various states

167 flood victims at three relief centres in Kedah

53 evacuated in Malacca due to floods

Parts of Ayer Keroh hit by flash floods

Don't hold polling at schools set for flood relief - Malacca govt

Petronas presents boats, equipment for floods in N Sembilan

GE15 date set, but still no flood SOPs from EC - Bersih

Reveal SOPs for flood polls, Bersih urges EC and Nadma