Sabahans fail in final bid to revive 'sedition suit' against Hadi
Published on: Tuesday, April 04, 2023
By:
FMT, V Anbalagan
The Sabahans had alleged that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had committed sedition and was unfit to hold public office.
PUTRAJAYA: The attempt by two Sabahans to revive a suit filed against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for an alleged attack on Christians has come to an end.
This follows the Federal Court’s decision today to strike out a notice of motion by Maklin Masiau and Lawrence Jomiji Kinsil @ Maximilhian to obtain leave to appeal.
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Maklin had only signed an affidavit but did not have it affirmed before a commissioner for oaths.
Chief Judge of Malaya Zabidin Diah, who led a three-member bench, said the notice of motion was not supported by a valid and proper affidavit.
“The application before us is not competent and, therefore, we have struck it out. We order no costs,” he said when allowing a preliminary objection by Hadi’s lawyer, Yusfarizal Yussoff.
Sitting with Zabidin were justices Mary Lim and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal.
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Earlier, lawyer R Kengadharan told the bench he had great difficulty locating Maklin, who is residing in Labuan, to regularise the affidavit.
“It was the late counsel Gopal Sri Ram who was in contact with the applicants. I ask for more time to locate Maklin,” he said.
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Sri Ram, 79, died on Jan 29.
Yusfarizal said the lawyers for the applicants had been aware of the defective affidavit since last October, but no steps were taken to rectify it.
He said Kengadharan’s legal firm were solicitors on record since this matter started in the High Court.
“They also did not file for leave to use the defective affidavit. A second chance should not be given,” said the lawyer, who was assisted by Adam Luqman Amdan.
On Sept 16 last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed the Sabahans’ appeal to revive the suit filed in 2020.
Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera said a three-member bench concluded that the findings of the High Court in 2021 were not manifestly wrong in law.
The appellate court said it agreed with the High Court that the two declarations sought by the Sabahans were wholly unsustainable and ought to be struck out.
On May 11, 2021 Justice Akhtar Tahir allowed Hadi’s application to strike out the suit, holding that the two plaintiffs lacked locus standi to bring the action.
The duo had filed an originating summons in the High Court in December 2020, seeking declarations that Hadi had committed sedition and was unfit to hold public office.
They claimed Hadi had made a seditious statement against Christians and Christian missionaries in PAS publication Harakah on Jan 18, 2016, but had not been prosecuted.
In their affidavit to support the action, the Sabahans said Hadi’s statement was also published by FMT on the same day.
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