KUALA LUMPUR, 28 SEPTEMBER - The High Court of Malaya MYSverse has ruled in favour of Barisan Rakyat Malaysia after a five-weeks-long battle between Barisan Rakyat Malaysia and Pasukan Pilihan Raya. The High Court, presided by Justice Datuk Arthur Thomas Lopez FCJ, has ruled that Pasukan Pilihan Raya acted in illegality by conducting elections without the writ of election it claimed to have been issued privately. Despite this, the High Court did not grant re-election and other reliefs sought by the coalition.
In the judgement, Justice Alex established that the court has the authority to decide the matter of 'illegality' in the 21st general election that Barisan Rakyat Malaysia claimed. This part is included under the sub-heading of "Justiciability" after Pasukan Pilihan Raya argued under Articles 80 and 80A of the Constitution that the court does not have the power to decide such matters.
Justice Alex stated that, because "an election petition does not exist within our community" and "this does not in itself exclude the courts from reviewing an action made by a statutory body", he did not see why the courts should be "ousted" from reviewing Pasukan Pilihan Raya.
The court additionally established that Pasukan Pilihan Raya did act in illegality. Despite Pasukan Pilihan Raya claiming that the writ was sent on 27 July 2024 in the format of Google Docs, the court rejected the argument on the basis that formal documents are supposed to be "unamendable" and "may have a seal on it". The writ of election was only converted to the PDF format—considered an unamendable format—on 18 August 2024, a week after the election.
Despite claiming that it did, the court found that Pasukan Pilihan Raya did not produce such documents to prove that such is the case. Justice Alex determined that Pasukan Pilihan Raya failed on "evidential burden", meaning that Pasukan Pilihan Raya was not able to prove its claim. Even then, the court asserted that the writ should have been public because of the writ must have been published in the Federal Gazette, which would have made the document public.
While Pasukan Pilihan Raya was found to have acted in illegality, the court did not grant any relief to Barisan Rakyat Malaysia. The court viewed that the mere failure to issue the writ of election would have not affected the results of the election. The court emphasised that Barisan Rakyat Malaysia must prove whether such error affected them.
The court also found Pasukan Pilihan Raya to be in contempt of court. During the discovery process, the counsels for Pasukan Pilihan Raya did not respond to court orders to produce documents to prove whether Pasukan Pilihan Raya received the writ of election privately. Justice Alex regretted the act with "utter disappointment" that the "officers of the court" have "chosen to defy court orders". He further asserted "such insouciance is a disgrace to the profession and to the Board".
Furthermore, the court briefly called out the actions of the Government which had intended to amend the Official Secrets Act 2019 last week. Justice Alex called the act "concerning" and stated that the government went on a "voyage" to "poke on the well-entrenched pillars of separation of powers". He further stated that the government had expressly attempted at "ousting the courts from their jurisdiction to review decisions", referring to the controversial "ouster clauses" within the amendment.
After five weeks of court battle and brief political instability, it appears both parties are satisfied with the judgement. Both parties have been observed and have responded to the judgement with gratitude. As of this article's release, both parties have yet to make a press statement.
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