SEREMBAN (July 28): The scheduled committal (contempt) proceedings on the Negeri Sembilan Undangs and state chieftains on Tuesday have been adjourned, as they had filed an interim stay on the day’s proceedings. The application for the interim stay will be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday (July 29).

The lead counsel for the Undangs and state chieftains, Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, informed High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain that they had also filed a notice of appeal over her July 8 decision to grant leave for contempt action to be taken on the Undangs and chieftains.

Awang Armadajaya said that since the interim stay is scheduled to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, the hearing on the committal proceedings fixed for Tuesday should also be adjourned.

He also said the appellate court has also fixed Oct 19 as case management for the Undangs’ challenge to Roz Mawar’s decision to grant the contempt proceedings against them.

On July 8, Roz Mawar had found that there is a prima facie case to initiate contempt proceedings against the Undangs, for going against an interim injunction that had been granted on June 5. The interim injunction bars them from meetings of the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) or holding any installation or proceedings, until the disposal of the bid by the DKU and its secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin to strike out the suit that had been filed against them by the plaintiffs.

The six plaintiffs, which include three Undangs, are: Datuk Maarof Mat Rashid (the Undang for Jelebu), Datuk Muhammed Abdullah (the Undang for Johol), and Datuk Abd Rahim Yasin (the Undang for Rembau), as well as Datuk Mubarak Thahak (whose status as the Undang of Sungai Ujong is under dispute), Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al Qadri (Tengku Besar Tampin), and Datuk Seri Badarudin Abdul Khalid (Datuk Shahbandar Sungai Ujong).

The six plaintiffs had filed a legal action in May, wanting a court order for the DKU minutes dated April 17 to be produced, following the expulsion of Mubarak, which they are also challenging.

The DKU and Raja Norazli had opposed the application, citing that the DKU matters are non-justiciable, and hence the court also refused a stay over the decision to remove Mubarak.

Following Mubarak’s expulsion, the chieftains announced the removal of the current Yang di-Pertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, on April 19, but this was not recognised by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun.

Since the interim stay application is pending at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Roz Mawar allowed the adjournment of Tuesday’s proceedings and fixed Sept 28 for case management for all existing matters.

Roz Mawar had remarked that although the case was only filed in May, there had been many enclosures, now more than 200, with her possibly expecting more to come.

Meanwhile, Roz Mawar was also told in the proceedings that Tunku Syed Razman had informed his own lawyer, Mohd Zainuddin Omar from Messrs Zainuddin & Associates, to represent him.

Prior to this, Tunku Syed Razman and the other chieftains had been represented by Messrs Deidra Sharina & Co. That law firm is still representing the remaining five.

Mohd Zainuddin told the court that he had received the committal papers only on Monday afternoon and would be representing Tunku Syed Razman.

The lawyer told the court that since matters involve customary Malay laws and Malay rulers, the proceedings or submissions should be done in Bahasa Malaysia, or Bahasa Melayu, and not in English, in line with practice directions.

The DKU and Raja Norazli’s counsel Steven Thiru said he has no objection but finds it faster to submit in English.

Thiru said since Tunku Syed Razman had accepted the cause papers for committal, then the court could fix a hearing date for the proceedings.

As a result, Roz Mawar fixed Sept 8 to conduct the committal proceedings against Tunku Syed Razman.

Prior to this, the six plaintiffs had, on June 5, been involved in the installation and proclamation of Tunku Datuk Seri Nazaruddin Tuanku Jaafar as the new Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, resulting in the leave for contempt sought by DKU and Raja Norazli, which was granted by Roz Mawar.

Thiru informed the court that Raja Norazli had also filed fresh contempt proceedings against the six plaintiffs.

“It was filed last night (Monday, July 27) and is in the court system,” Thiru said.

The counsel said that following the adjournment granted on Tuesday, this fresh contempt proceeding is adjourned, as well as the recusal application by the plaintiffs against Roz Mawar.

Awang Armadajaya, who appeared with Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin and Azam Abdul Aziz, agreed that the recusal against Roz Mawar should be adjourned along with the fresh contempt application.

However, Mohd Zainuddin when asked by Roz Mawar whether his client (Tunku Syed Razman) is continuing the recusal application against her, replied in the positive as this had been agreed upon by his client before this.

The lawyer said the recusal application should be heard first before his client’s committal case.

However, on consulting with lawyers for the plaintiffs, he agreed that the recusal could be heard later.

When met outside the courtroom, Thiru said the fresh contempt application was filed against the Undangs and chieftains for evading service of the committal papers.

On Monday, The Edge reported that the six plaintiffs had filed a notice of appeal against Roz Mawar’s decision. The Edge had also reported on an affidavit by Raja Norazli citing the six of them for evading service of the cause papers.

On the recusal, The Edge had reported last week that the six had sought to recuse Roz Mawar, as they contended that “there exists a real danger of bias should High Court judge Roz Mawar continue to preside over the originating summons… this may be contrary to Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009” and that, “to ensure that justice is not only done but is also seen to be done”, the judge ought to recuse herself.

This follows pictures of the judge attending a Maal Hijrah celebration last month having been posted on social media, in which the judge had been seated beside the Tunku Ampuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and had sat at the same table as Aminuddin's wife, the wife of the state secretary, and two state executive councillors last month.

The problem and struggle with the state chieftains is made much more complex with the Negeri Sembilan elections, with polling set on Saturday (Aug 1) and early voting on Tuesday (July 28).

Negeri Sembilan legal adviser Datuk Muzalmah Mustapha Kamal, who is the third respondent in the Undangs’ application, was also present at Tuesday’s proceedings, along with representatives from the Malaysian Bar led by Peter Douglas Lim as observer.

Read also:
Four Negeri Sembilan chieftains go to court to suspend Sungei Ujong Undang’s removal pending meeting minutes
Undangs appealing leave for contempt at Court of Appeal
Negeri Sembilan court allows contempt proceedings against Undangs, two others
Undangs or state chieftains seeking to recuse presiding judge ahead of contempt hearing next week
Seremban High Court rejects bid to stay April 17 decision to remove Sungei Ujong Undang Mubarak Thahak