On May 12, Ting was dismissed as an elected representative under Article 17(1)(g) of the state constitution for voluntarily acquiring citizenship outside Malaysia.
The motion, tabled by Sarawak second finance minister Wong Soon Koh, was put to a vote and received the support of 70 Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers who voted in favour of it. All 10 opposition members voted against it.
Wong said Ting acquired Australian citizenship on Jan 20, 2010, and only renounced it on April 4, 2016, a month before the Sarawak election on May 8.
The court’s ruling was announced by Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling, who posted on social media the main points of the ruling today.
“From case law, the Court took a consistent stance that the Dewan must act within its powers. The Constitution clearly provides if any party is dissatisfied with election results they must take the case up with an election petition.
“Under Article 1.18, the election court shall have exclusive jurisdiction if any election result is challenged. The Dewan has no express powers to deal with election results. The Dewan is not a competent body to decide constitutional issues,” Alan wrote.
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