AN application by cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque to stay his travel ban pending a constitutional determination by the Federal Court was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

The application, filed two weeks ago by Zulkiflee’s lead counsel, Gopal Sri Ram, was for the high court to make an order of reference of constitutional questions to the Federal Court under Section 84 of the Court of Judicature Act 1964.

Today, judge Azizah Nawawi said she found no constitutional issues related to the travel ban.

“This application is without merit,” she said in her decision today in dismissing the application with cost of RM5,000.

Zulkiflee, better known as Zunar, will be appealing the decision.

Among the questions raised by Gopal was whether the decision in the Malaysian government v Loh Wai Kong (1979) case is null and void and of no effect as having been decided without jurisdiction and, therefore, is not in accordance with Article 121 of the federal constitution read with Section 67 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 as it stood in 1979.

In rejecting the application, Azizah said: “I am of the considered opinion that Article 121 is not an issue in the substantive application, but was only raised in order to question the validity of Loh Wai Kong’s case as a valid precedence.”

In the 1979 case, Loh had applied for a passport after being charged in a criminal case. Loh later sought a ruling that he was entitled to travel overseas as a fundamental right under Article 5 of the constitution. The Federal Court ruled that no such right existed.

“From the beginning, I’ve not placed much hope in our system,” Zunar said after proceedings today.

“I’m not so frustrated because this was expected. But we will fight until the end with all our resources in the legal process.”

He said he will speak about his experience during a tele-conference talkshow hosted by the London-based Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation (Procartoonist) tonight.

Zunar believes he is the only cartoonist in the world who faces a travel ban.

“Even my cartoonist friend in Kenya was very surprised. He thought Africa is bad, but he said it seems Malaysia is facing more problems than Africa.”

Zunar is applying for a judicial review to challenge an overseas travel ban imposed since October 17, 2016.

The travel ban was imposed when Zunar was barred from boarding a flight to attend a forum at the National University of Singapore. No reason was given for the ban. 

The cartoonist, however, has been charged or investigated for breaching six laws over the past two years, the most serious being the Sedition Act.

He alleges he is being harassed for his work, which lampoons the government and focuses on corruption issues. The cartoons do not shy away from criticism of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who are often portrayed as leading a lavish lifestyle.

Zunar filed the legal challenge against the travel ban on December 7, naming the director-general of Immigration, home minister and Malaysian government as respondents.

On April 14, the court granted his application for leave for judicial review to challenge the travel restriction issued against him.

A travel ban has also been imposed on Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah. 

Although it was lifted, both challenged the legality of the ban but failed. – November 29, 2017.