KOTA KINABALU: The debacle over the wrongful appointment of a Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) official to head the State Water Department, and the subsequent defiance of the court decision, has compromised the credibility and integrity of the state government, said Sabah PKR women chief, Rahimah Majid (pic).
“The feedback gathered from the ground indicated that this episode has tarnished the reputation and image of the state government,” she added.
She was commenting on the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s statement on Saturday, that the state government will “correct” the wrong process leading to the appointment of Datuk Amarjit Singh as the Sabah Water Department director last August. Shafie had said although the High Court had made a ruling on Amarjit’s appointment, it did not state that his appointment was “illegal”.
She also questioned the validity of the de facto law minister, Datuk VK liew’s statement that Section 3(2) of the Sabah Water Supply Enactment 2003 does not apply to the Director of the Sabah Water Department.
She said, the statements by both Shafie and Liew are contrary to the fundamental principle of separation of power of the legislature, executive and the judiciary in Malaysia, which is necessary so that there is a check and balance.
“They obviously failed to respect the law and setting a bad example. The Court has made a decision and should be followed even if you don’t agree. Not only letters of the law are to be respected but also the spirit of the law as well.
“No one is above the law, more so for a person who is supposed to uphold the law, the Constitution and the rule of law.
“The Chief Minister and the State government are sending wrong signal to the world and the potential investors, that it will not honour the law and court decisions. They have set a bad precedent, and if foreign investors are staying away from Sabah, the Chief Minister and his Cabinet will have to bear responsibility” she said.
Rahimah who is a practising lawyer herself added that both Shafie and Liew should have respected the Court decision and let the State Attorney-general do her job accordingly.
“Obviously the Chief Minister was ill-advised to ask Amarjit to continue instead of asking him to take leave pending the appeal. It is trite law that an appeal does not operate as a stay of execution.
“As the Chief Minister has acknowledged it is a “mistake” and to be corrected, the director should not be instructed to continue. If at all, he should only resume after compliance of the law, and after whatever correction, as mentioned by the Chief Minister, if it can be corrected at all.
“Even if wrongly instructed by the Chief Minister, Amarjit should have respected the court decision and step aside,” she said.
She concluded that, by appointing Amarjit, who is a non-civil servant, the state government not only ran foul of the law, but also clearly degraded the most senior, qualified and experienced officer who was supposed to fill the said vacancy, and badly demoralised the civil service, which is essentially the backbone of the state government.-pr/BNN
