KOTA KINABALU: The High Court’s decision to dismiss Tan Sri Musa Aman’s originating summons in the dispute over Sabah Chief Ministership by making comparison to the 2009/2010 Perak Menteri Besar case is unacceptable.
Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary-general Datuk Johnny Mositun said the Sabah Chief Minister case was a different matter altogether, stressing the high court judge should commit herself to make serious distinctions to the Zambry Perak case.
“Although the court had relied on extraneous evidence of the statutory declarations of the six froggers (Sabah BN assemblymen who defected to Warisan) as to what constitutes the “majority” and the outcome of the GE14, the issues of whether Musa or the Sabah Chief Minister serves at the pleasure of the TYT was not really clear or certain.
“To me the Perak Constitution is not the same with our Sabah Constitution, as the appointment of the Sultan is not done or appointed by the King or Agong. Whereas Sabah TYT does.
Moreover, the facts and circumstances of the Perak case could be distinguished from our Sabah case,” he said in a statement, today.
Based on the judgment of the presiding judge on Wednesday, Mositun said it appears Sabah TYT has similar power of a Sultan, to which he stressed was not enshrined by the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He noted Sabah and Sarawak have different set of laws and distincts from the states in West Malaysia including Perak.
“This is simply because Sabah and Sarawak are equal Partners with that of the Federation of Malaya with special interests and rights.
“The judgment has completely oversight this matter by heavily relying on the Perak case.
“It now appears that Sabah is one of 13 states and not having ‘equal partners’ status,” he opined.
Noting that Musa has instructed his counsel to appeal the case to the higher court, Mositun said they have higher confidence of the apex court to make professional judgement based on laid down constitutions to satisfy the expectation of the rakyat especially the genuine Sabahans.
“Sabah case is simply that Tan Sri Musa had the majority and had formed the cabinet, which was sanctioned by the TYT in the first instance.
“No issue on the vote of no confidence. But the TYT went on to appoint another Chief Minister. That’s why the application filed in court to declare Tan Sri Musa as a lawful chief minister according and enshrined in our state constitution.
“The decision to appoint another Chief Minister had eroded the true spirit of the state constitution and this is indeed sad for our Sabah history,” he stressed.-By LSK/BNN
