DR Ting Tiong Choon will remain the Pujut assemblyman after the Court of Appeal dismissed the Sarawak speaker’s bid to disqualify the Pakatan Harapan lawmaker.

The Court of Appeal in a 2-1 split decision today dismissed the appeals of the speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, the state’s Second Finance Minister Wong Soon Koh and the assembly against the June 17, 2017 Kuching High Court decision that the assembly had acted beyond its powers to disqualify Ting as an assemblyman.

Justices Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Harminder Singh Dhaliwal upheld the high court decision while justice Mary Lim was the dissenting voice.

Both Abang Iskandar and Hariminder in their decision to dismiss the appeal said the state assembly had acted beyond its jurisdiction to disqualify Ting over his Australian citizenship.

Abang Iskandar said in his ruling that the state assembly only had jurisdiction to determine the status of a member whose disqualification was incurred after his election and not before.

He said for the state assembly to go backwards and determine the status of a person before he was elected would amount to an overreach by the state assembly “which in my view has no constitutional support in the state constitution”.

The Sarawak state assembly on May 12 last year disqualified the 51-year-old medical doctor over the Australian citizenship he took in 2010 while living in Australia.

Ting, who never renounced his Malaysian citizenship, however renounced his Australian citizenship on April 4, 2016 – some three weeks before the state election – so he could return and contest and the polls.

In a four-cornered fight, he polled 8,899 votes to see off his nearest rival, Barisan Nasional direct candidate Hii King Chiong, who polled 7,140 votes.

The other two candidates, Jofri Jaraiee of PAS, who polled 513 votes, and independent Fong Pau Teck, who garnered 357 votes, both lost their deposits.

Hii then went to the election court to seek a declaration that the election result was null and void as Ting should be disqualified on the ground he was an Australian citizen.

The court threw out the case on technicalities as Hii failed to meet the mandatory legal requirements on submitting his petition and on the manner the security deposit should be paid.

Hii had paid the RM10,000 deposit by cheque, when it should have been in cash, and filed only one copy of the petition to the court when the legal requirement was three.

Unhappy with the dismissal, Wong tabled a ministerial motion at the assembly’s sitting on May 12 last year to disqualify Ting under Article 17(1)(g) of the state constitution.

Article 17(1)(g) states that “a person is disqualified from being elected as an elected member of Dewan Undangan Negeri (state legislative assembly) if he has voluntarily acquired citizenship of or exercised rights of citizenship in and has made declaration of allegiance to any country outside the federation”.

In the voting that followed, the 70 BN members voted to disqualify the first-time assemblyman, while the 10 opposition members – seven DAP and three from PKR – voted against.

Ting then took the dismissal to the High Court for a decision.

High Court judge Douglas Cristo Primus Sikayun said in his June ruling that the state assembly was not a competent body to hear the question of Ting’s Australian citizenship and found the speaker, Mohamad Asfia, had not properly applied the principle of natural justice to give Ting a fair hearing – a ruling both Abang Iskandar and Harmindar concurred.

Sikayun had also taken exception to Asfia’s role and conduct in the disqualification proceeding saying Asfia “had taken the role of a prosecutor” which made him impartial.

He said Asfia’s wrong interpretation of Articles 23(1) and 24(1) of the federal constitution on citizenship had misled the assembly.

Lim, in her dissenting ruling, said Ting remained disqualified because he had flouted all the three grounds of disqualification under Article 17(1)(g) – voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign country, exercising rights of citizenship, and making a declaration of allegiance to the country.

“I’m really glad the decision is in my favour,” Ting said in his reaction.

Thanking his legal team and the voters in Pujut for their support, Ting said the legal tussle was a hard and emotional battle.

“It was quite hard for the past 12 to 14 months. It’s time to stop,” he said in an appeal to the plaintiffs not to appeal the decision to the federal court.

“Let me do my work as an elected representative and not be bothered by all these.”

DAP Sarawak chief Chong Chieng Jen in his reaction said the attempt to disqualify Ting was a “prosecution because we are from the wrong side”.

“They are persecuting him, hoping to take away his rightful position as an elected assemblyman of Sarawak.

“Enough is enough. Let’s move on. Let’s not continue this persecution.

“You’ve had your chance. You lost in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.” – July 13, 2018.