KUCHING, Oct 26: The Court of Appeal will fix a date to deliver its judgment on the fate of Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon, whether he can remain as a legally elected assemblyman.
Court of Appeal judges, Abang Iskandar Abang Hasim, Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, who today heard arguments from both Ting’s legal counsel and the appellants’ counsel for over six hours until 7.15pm, made the decision to deliver judgment at a date to be fixed later.
The appellants — State Legislative Assembly (DUN) speaker Datuk Amar Mohammad Asfia Awang Nassar and Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh — were both present during the hearing, together with a courtroom full of journalists awaiting the judgment.
The controversial saga over Dr Ting’s assemblyman status started when the state assembly voted to disqualify Dr Ting as a member of the legislature over his alleged dual citizenship and bankruptcy in Australia on May 12.
However, the High Court had on June 17 overturned the assembly’s decision on the grounds that the principle of natural justice was not observed and Dr Ting was not given a fair hearing.
The DUN had subsequently appealed against the High Court’s decision to reinstate Dr Ting as a legally elected assemblyman.
On Oct 5, the Court of Appeal sitting in Putrajaya dismissed Dr Ting’s motion to strike out the DUN’s appeal against the Kuching High Court’s decision and hence the appeal was heard today in Kuching. — DayakDaily
