High Court dismisses judicial review by Musa to halt Sabah election

Court - DayakDaily.com file pic. // Photo: Pixabay

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 21: The Sabah High Court here has dismissed the judicial review application by former Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman and 32 assemblymen on the decision by Sabah Governor Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to dissolve the Sabah state assembly.

According to online media reports, Judicial Commissioner Leonard David Shim struck out the application on the grounds that the court had no justiciability to hear and decide on the case.

With the decision, Sabah will be going to the polls on September 26.

Earlier, Musa and the 32 assemblymen had filed a court case against Junar as the first respondent and caretaker Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Election Commission and the state government as the second, third and fourth respondents respectively.

Meanwhile, State Attorney-General Brenndon Keith Soh said the case has been dismissed against the respondents.

“The court has dismissed the case against the respondents, no leave granted.

“The court found that the decision of the Governor was non-justiciable.

“There was nothing to suggest that there was a breach in the state constitution and therefore the decision to grant a dissolution is not justiciable.

“It was done properly in accordance with the law and the dissolution is therefore valid and constitutional, there should not be any uncertainty whether a state election should continue or not,” he was quoted as saying.

On another note, the counsel who represented Musa and the 32 assemblymen, Tengku Fuad Ahmad said the matter would be taken to the Court of Appeals.

He explained that the group disagreed with the High Court’s decision.

He added that he has filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Court as soon as the decision was delivered by the High Court. —DayakDaily