THE Sabah High Court today said it will deliver its decision in the suit brought by Musa Aman challenging Shafie Apdal’s appointment as Sabah chief minister on November 7.

High Court judge Yew Jing Kee did not make a decision today on the case, despite having heard oral submissions from both parties in a session that lasted more than four-and-a-half hours.

Musa is challenging Shafie’s appointment on May 12 to the post of chief minister.

He named Head of State Juhar Mahiruddin as the first defendant and Shafie as the second.

State Attorney-General Zaleha Rose and counsel Douglas Lind are representing Shafie and Musa, respectively.

During oral submission Fuad, citing Article 6 (3) and Article 6 (7) of the Sabah constitution, said  Musa had the command of the majority at the time he was sworn in as chief minister on May 10. 

Fuad cited Article 10 (4) of the state constitution which states the limitations of the powers of the head of state.

“By the virtue of the article, the Tuan Yang di-Pertua does not have the power to sack the chief minister but is only able to advise the state cabinet to resign.” 

Fuad said Warisan never had the majority as the Warisan-PH coalition was not an official coalition.

“BN is a registered entity and it contested under a single logo in the elections. They won 29 seats, but Warisan only won 21 seats.

“The said Warisan-PH coalition is not an official coalition and therefore, the state party never obtained the majority,” he said.

Sabah was stuck with a hung assembly when Warisan-PH and BN tied at 29 seats each. 

Lind argued that if a comparison of seats were to be drawn between single parties only, then Warisan should be pitted against Umno instead of BN.

He said Warisan had 21 seats while Umno had 17.

To Fuad’s contention that the governor did not have the power to dismiss Musa, Lind cited Article 7(1), which states that the chief minister shall tender the resignation of the members of the cabinet.
when he ceases to command the confidence of a majority of the members of the legislative assembly.

“By the virtue of the word ‘shall’, Musa must resign when he is advised to do so by the head of state,” Lind said.

Lind said BN had automatically lost its slim majority with the defection of the six  assemblymen from Umno and United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusun Murut Organisation.

“We have gathered the statutory declarations of the six assemblymen who crossed over to switch allegiance to Warisan, meaning BN no longer has the majority.”

Earlier, Lind’s co-counsel Zaleha noted that the head of state Juhar Mahiruddin had summoned Musa to Istana Negeri the morning of May 12 to compel him to step down as the chief minister but he had refused.

Shafie and his cabinet were sworn in the same night.

Warisan-PH-Upko has 35 seats and BN 25 seats, including two from Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku.

More than 300 Warisan supporters turned up at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex amidst tight police security today.

Recording devices were not allowed inside the court.

Sabah Police Commissioner Omar Mammah said he was glad to see the proceedings take place without incident.

“We will also boost the security when the court decides on the case next month,” he said. – October 25, 2018.

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