Court rules it cannot stop PRS elections
Malaysiakini.com
Nov 30, 2006
Tony Thien

The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) faction opposed to the leadership of president Dr James Masing has failed to obtain a court injunction to stop party elections scheduled this weekend in Sibu by the Masing faction.

Kuching High Court judge Clement Allan Skinner said in chambers before counsel for both parties that basically his hand was tied under Section 18 (c) of the Societies Act which does not allow the court to interfere or intervene or adjudicate on a political decision relating to the affairs of a political party.

PRS vice-president and Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald (left), aligned to the party's deputy president Sng Chee Hua, had gone to court in an attempt to stop the triennial delegates conference (TDC) which the Masing faction is organising as their road-map to find a solution to the problems in the party.

Donald also applied for an injunction to stop Masing from acting as party president on the ground that a supreme council meeting on June 14 this year had already censured him as president allegedly for breaches of the party constitution and for disciplinary reasons.

Masing, who is state Land Development Minister, applied through his counsel to strike out the suit.

Donald, the plaintiff, was represented by Lim Heng Choo of Lim & Lim Advocates and Masing, the defendant, by Sim Hui Chuang of Reddi & Co Advocates.

Hearing was held in chambers.

Dismissed with costs

In his brief judgment, the Sabahan judge: “Being decisions of a political party on a matter relating to the affairs of the party, I find that Section 18 (c) of the Societies Act would operate to prevent the court from entertaining this suit or to adjudicate and decide on this suit.”

He cited the Court of Appeal case (2003) in the ROS v PV Das (on behalf of the People's Progressive Party or PPP) and said that using the same reasoning the matters raised in the suit were 'non justiciable as they relate to decisions of a political party on matters relating to the affairs of the party.'

“The court cannot entertain this suit. The court should not assume jurisdiction in the matter. The case in a non-starter. It must be struck out and dismissed with costs,” Skinner said.

However, the judge went on to say that even if the court had the jurisdiction to do so, it would not grant the injunctions as there were before him a number of triable issues, such as whether Masing had been validly censured and the balance of justice does not lie in favour of the grant of an injunction for several reasons.

Up to this point of time, he said the ROS had yet to hand down its decision on the party's reply to the show-cause letter after the party was found to have contravened its constitution in the sacking of six principal office-bearers of the party in May.

It would be wrong and presumptuous at this stage to anticipate what the ROS would do or how he would exercise his discretion in whether to de-register the party or not.

“The political realities of the situation before me is that the defendant (Masing) and those aligned to him are making efforts to solve the problems they face through the TDC which, under the constitution, is the governing body of the party,” the judge said.

Sacking not valid

“Accordingly, it is a forum made available by the constitution for resolving the problems faced by the party and the defendant should not be impeded from availing the party to that forum,” Skinner added.

Meanwhile, in a statement in responding to the decision taken at last night's supreme council meeting chaired by Sng to expel Masing, PRS vice-president Dublin Unting said the decisions taken by the supreme council meeting on June 14 to censure Masing as president and at last night's SC meeting chaired by Sng were invalid, null and void.

“We do not recognise the censure and the expulsion,” he added.

Both parties have been told by the court that just as much as the court has no jurisdiction to grant any injunction even if it has the power to do so, the court could not similarly interfere with what is essentially a political decision in the sacking of Masing as party member.

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