Following this ruling, nominations scheduled for tomorrow and polling on Sept 26 will proceed.
On Tuesday, former Tamparuli assemblyman Jahid @ Noordin Jahim filed a stay application, saying Governor Juhar Mahiruddin’s decision to dissolve the 15th state assembly on July 30 should have stayed until the disposal of the suit.
Bench chairman Abdul Rahman Sebli said the court fully appreciated the importance of preserving the integrity of Musa’s appeal.
“However, we are also mindful of preserving the integrity of the democratic process through an election,” he said in delivering the unanimous ruling.
Others on the bench were Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Mary Lim Thiam Suan.
Rahman said having seriously considered the matter on the balance of convenience, the greater public interest overrode the interest of Jahid.
“As such, we are not persuaded that this is a fit and proper case to allow the stay. In the circumstances, the application is dismissed,” he added.
Lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who represented Jahid, then urged the court for an early date to be fixed to hear Musa’s appeal.
“That you will have to write to the court,” Rahman said.
Musa was present to follow today’s proceeding.
On Aug 26, the Federal Court, in a majority 2-1 ruling, allowed Musa’s leave application seeking a declaration that he was the rightful Sabah chief minister after the conclusion of the 15th state election in 2018.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by 33 ex-Sabah assemblymen, who included Musa and Jahid, to challenge the consent given by Governor Juhar Mahiruddin to dissolve the state legislative assembly.
A three-member bench chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who affirmed the findings of the High Court, said Juhar’s decision could not be challenged in court.
That same evening (Tuesday) Jahid filed an application to stay the election on grounds that a decision in favour of Musa in the Federal Court would be meaningless if the polls were held now.
Lawyer Cyrus Das, representing Shafie, earlier today said the application was an abuse of process because Musa’s appeal had no connection to the dissolution.
”Jahid is relating the dissolution to an incident that happened in May 2018 that Musa was unlawfully removed as chief minister,” he said.
Das said Musa and Jahid should have applied for a stay to stop the election after the Federal Court granted leave to Musa on Aug 26 as the Election Commission (EC) had issued notice to hold the polls on Aug 17.
“They ‘switched track’ to use the pending CM dispute before the Federal Court to stop the election now,” he said.
Firoz had also submitted that Shafie was “illegally installed as chief minister” and the advice given to the governor on July 29 was, therefore, questionable.
Sabah Attorney-General Brenndon Keith Soh said from the time Shafie was appointed until dissolution, there were seven sittings of the state assembly, laws were passed, two budgets were approved and there was never a “no confidence” vote against the government.
“Clearly, there was a legitimate government in the state,” he added.
Musa was appointed chief minister on May 10, 2018 after securing the support of 31 of the 60 elected assemblymen.
However, the following day Juhar dismissed Musa when five assemblymen from Upko shifted their allegiance to Shafie’s camp. Shafie then had 34 representatives with him.
High Court judge Yew Jen Kie relied on the Perak case to hold that Juhar had the power to dismiss the chief minister.
On Nov 28, the Court of Appeal struck out Musa’s appeal against the High Court’s decision on grounds that Shafie now enjoyed majority support of the assemblymen.