The Malaysian Insight

THE Election court today struck out a petition to challenge the results of the Sipitang parliamentary seat in the general election last year.

Election judge Azahari Kamal Ramli said the petition was struck out for abuse of process due to petitioner Parti Warisan Sabah member Noor Hayaty Mustapha’s inability to produce the needed documents.

“The court also found that the witnesses and their statements were not ready and they were not filed to the court,” said the judge.

With the court’s decision today, the seat remains with Yamani Hafez Musa, the son of former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman and nephew of Kimanis MP Anifah Aman.

Yamani won the seat under the Barisan Nasional banner but recent reports indicated that he had quit Umno and planned to join Bersatu.

Noor Hayaty was represented by Chung Jiun Dau, Mohammed Fareez Mohammed Salleh and Melani Tan Mey Yann, while Jayen Marimuthu, Tengku Fuad Tenku Ahmad, Redzuan Borhan, Rizuan Akle and Azheir Farhan Arisin appeared for Yamani.

Three days ago, the petitioner spent four hours at the Election Commission office in Kota Kinabalu to check all the ballot documents, including forms 13 and 14, involving the 67 ballot boxes used in GE14.

No details were revealed following the inspection.

Yamani’s lawyer, Tengku Fuad, said the petitioner also applied for an adjournment but the court had disallowed it.

“The petition was struck out with no order as to cost. They had failed to get witnesses statements and the witnesses ready, as well not filing in the important files, and the judge saw this as an abuse of process,” he said. – April 8, 2019.