DAP today claimed a moral victory following the Kuching High Court’s ruling which overturned the Sarawak speaker’s dismissal of Dr Ting Tiong Choon as Pujut assemblyman.

The opposition party also said the decision will also look bad on Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari, who took office on January 13. 

“This shameful incident of the assembly speaker abusing his power, happened at the first sitting of the legislature with Abang Johari as chief minister of Sarawak,” said Sarawak DAP leader Chong Chieng Jen.

“This abuse would not have been allowed to happen had he not allowed it to take place. Today’s decision will go down in history as a permanent smear on Abang Johari’s legacy. This will be a stigma on him for the rest of his political life as chief minister of Sarawak,” he said. 

The High Court this morning ruled against the state assembly’s decision to disqualify Dr Ting on May 12 in the recently concluded sitting. The motion was tabled by Sarawak’s Second Finance Minister Wong Soon Koh and put to a vote by Speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar.

Judge Douglas Christo Primus Sikayun held that the plaintiff, Dr Ting, was not a disqualified person and was entitled to remain as an elected assemblyman.

“There is no vacancy for the Pujut seat,” he said, and also awarded RM100,000 to the plaintiff.

“This has sent a clear message to the speaker that he can’t behave as if he’s God. Once he steps outside the state assembly, he is not above the law. 

“I think the judge spent quite a lengthy time making remarks on the manner in which Asfia handled this. He did not comply with the rules of natural justice and his interpretation of the article was wrong. Basically, today’s decision made him look like a fool,” Chong said.

An elated Dr Ting said, “Today’s win is for the DAP and for the democratic process at large.

“The judgment today will hopefully teach the speaker a lesson to differentiate between right and wrong. To serve as a speaker of the legislature of Sarawak, he should be fair and just to everyone and not just follow the government’s orders blindly,” Dr Ting said. 

“Most important of all I thank God for giving me the strength in the past few weeks to go through this trial. I am also thankful to my DAP comrades for supporting me and encouraging me to fight on and to continue my work.”

DAP’s former Piasau assemblyman Alan Ling pointed out that the speaker should read the judgment and reflect upon it.

“A fair-minded and reasonable speaker would not have taken sides in chairing the sitting. He should decide all matters in accordance with the law.

“Today’s ruling is a big slap on him and Wong Soon Koh, the mover of the motion.”

Ling, who was touted by the Sarawak press as DAP’s likely candidate to run for the now-cancelled Pujut by-election, says the party has been vindicated. 

“It is a victory for the Pujut voters, as the judge pointed out, the interest of 8,899 voters should be taken into consideration and election matters are to be decided by an election court, not the Dewan,” he said. – June 17, 2017.