KUCHING, Feb 2.- High Court Judge Datuk Yew Jen Kie has
fixed Feb 17 whether there are legal basis in application for leave by the Sarawak Parti
Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) for a judicial review of the re-delineation exercise of
the Sarawak electoral boundaries.
She fixed the date after hearing arguments from Sarawak
PKR vice chairman See Chee How, who is one of the two plaintiffs, and Senior
Federal Counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Azizan Md Arshad, both representing the Federal
Attorney-General's Chambers while Senior State Legal Counsel Datuk Fong Joo
Chong is holding a watching brief for the Sarawak Government and Sarawak State
Legislative Assembly.
 |
| See Chee How speaking to reporters |
Yew, who heard the application in her chambers, also
ordered the two parties to submit further arguments by Feb 4 and the replies
two days later.
Apart from See, the other plaintiff is Sarawak PKR member
Paul Baya from Baram.
Shamsul, speaking to reporters later, said the plaintiffs' application is premature
at this stage because the 100 days objection period for the display of
notification of proposals and master map plan of the re-delineation of
electoral boundaries only ends on Feb 4.
"We see that the notice has complied with the
provisions of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
"Therefore, the notice is valid under the law as far
as we are concerned and we have complied strictly with the provisions of the
constitution," he said.
On claims by the plaintiffs that the display of the notice is insufficient and
lack of particulars, Shamsul said the
affected voters must show how they are affected and where they can get the
notice.
"They have 100 days to submit their representations
and objections," he said.
See, when asked by reporters, he said he did not think that applying for
leave for judicial review of the re-delineation exercise is pre-mature as
claimed by Shamsul.
"They are saying that the application is pre-mature
because they are talking about the challenge to the proposed redraw of the
electoral boundaries, which is not at this stage.
" We are challenging the proposals of re-drawing the boundaries by the commission.
"We are talking about the notification which is
insufficient," he said, saying that Clause 4 of the 13th Schedule says
that the notice must be published in at least one newspaper circulated in the
affected constituencies.
"Whether it is sufficient for you to publish the
notice in more than one newspaper or is it necessary for you to publish in the
papers and such papers must be in circulation in all the constituencies?"
he asked.
"That is why you publish the notice because you want
to bring to the attention of all the voters of all the affected
constituencies," See argued.
He said it is not correct for the commission to say that
notification is sufficient since it is published in the New Straits Times,
Utusan Malaysia and the Sabah edition of the Borneo Post, apart from the New
Sarawak Tribune.
"It should be that these newspapers must be circulated in the affected constituencies
so that the affected voters will have notice of what have been published in the
newspapers," he said.
"What is the point of publishing the notice in the
newspapers if these newspapers are not circulated in the affected
constituencies?" he asked.
In applying for leave for a judicial review to seek
orders of the court to declare the re-delineation
as unconstitutional, See said the EC has
not complied with the provisions contained in the Thirteenth Schedule of the
Federal Constitution.
See said the provisions require the commission to
disclose in full details the proposed recommendations in the affected state
constituencies, and how such recommendations will affect the voters.
"There is serious and considerable lacking in
detailed particulars of the proposed recommendations and the draft Constituency
Plan which are opened for public inspection from Jan 5 to Feb 4, 2015.
See, who is also Batu Lintang State Assemblyman, had said
after filing an leave application last week.
No comments:
Post a Comment