PUTRAJAYA (Oct 21): The 10 sacked Negeri Sembilan executive councillors have filed a motion at the Federal Court seeking to challenge the state ruler's decision last month to remove them.
The motion filed on Oct 14 through Messrs Hafarizam Aisha & Mubarak, asks the apex court to determine three sets of constitutional questions pertaining to Article 34(2) of the Negeri Sembilan constitution arising from their originating summons filed at the Seremban High Court on Oct 7.
The 10 are Datuk Mohd Faizal Ramli, Datuk Zaifulbahri Idris, Datuk Mustapha Nagoor, Siow Kong Choon, Siti Nur Umaira Hasim, Datuk Mohd Asna Amin, Datuk Mohd Razi Mohd Ali, Suhaimizan Bizar, Mohd Fairuz Mohd Isa and Datuk Razali Abu Samah.
They named the state secretary and the state government as respondents.
Case management for the originating summons at the Seremban High Court and for the apex court to schedule dates for the constitutional challenge are both fixed for Wednesday.
The three sets of questions
- Whether Article 38(5), read together with Articles 38(2), 38(3), 38(4), 40(1), 40(1A) and 40(2) of the Negeri Sembilan constitution, allows the Yang di-Pertuan Besar to revoke the appointment of an exco without the MB’s advice.
*If the answer to the above is negative, whether the sacking of the excos as gazetted on Sept 24 was unconstitutional and, therefore, null, void and ineffective. - Whether Article 38(5) of the Negeri Sembilan constitution confers the ruler unfettered power to sack an exco without regard to Articles 38(5), 40(1), 40(1A) and 40(2).
*If the answer to the above is in the negative, whether their dismissal is unconstitutional. - Whether Article 38(5), read together with Article 28(1) of the Negeri Sembilan constitution, the expression "Ruler" shall mean the Yang di-Pertuan Besar alone at his pleasure can remove an exco without the advice of the menteri besar.
*If the answer to the above is in the negative, whether their dismissal is unconstitutional.
MB insists he never advised ruler to dismiss excos
Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Ismail Lasim had affirmed in an affidavit that he had never advised Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir to dismiss the excos.
Tuanku Muhriz had sacked the excos, with the exception of Ismail, after they had endorsed a proclamation by four undangs — customary chieftains whose positions are also disputed — to remove the state ruler.
The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) — the body that oversees customs under Adat Perpatih — last Friday filed to initiate contempt proceedings against Ismail, the 10 former exco members and six chieftains, the including the four undangs, for allegedly violating a June 5 court injunction to preserve the status quo in Negeri Sembilan until the dispute is ruled by the courts.