Yong, currently serving an eight-year prison sentence and facing two strokes of the cane, filed the application under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995 seeking to have his appeal re-heard before a different apex court panel.

In a motion filed last week by solicitors Rajpal, Firah & Vishnu on his behalf, Yong said the Oct 1 decision, which saw a three-member panel upholding both his conviction and sentence, had been tainted by procedural unfairness.

In his supporting affidavit, Yong said he had been advised by his solicitors that the apex court had departed from established jurisprudence concerning Section 182A without giving his lawyers the right to be heard, resulting in injustice.

He said the Federal Court had relied on the 2022 case of Sathya Vello v PP that was later set aside, also in a review hearing.

Further, he said the Federal Court had failed to consider the interpretation of Section 182A put forward by his defence team.

Yong also said the Court of Appeal, which had in a split ruling upheld his conviction by the High Court, failed to consider his Section 112 statement to the police — recorded two days after the alleged incident — which was exculpatory in nature.

He said the miscarriage of justice was a serious violation of his constitutional rights to life and liberty (Article 5) and equal protection under the law (Article 8).

Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, sitting with Justices Nordin Hassan and Hanipah Farikullah, ruled that Yong’s conviction was sound and ordered that he begin serving his eight-year prison sentence immediately.

Wan Farid said the lower courts were correct to consider the Indonesian woman as a credible witness.

On July 22, 2022, Yong was found guilty by the High Court of raping the 23-year-old woman at his home in Ipoh, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019.

His conviction was upheld by both Justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Azman Abdullah in the Court of Appeal, with Justice S Komathy dissenting.