• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Tommy Thomas’s full statement

March 3, 2009

IPOH, 3 March 2009: This morning, the Ipoh High Court ruled that the lawyers engaged by Perak Speaker V Sivakumar had no locus standi to represent him.

Tommy Thomas and several other lawyers were engaged by Sivakumar to represent him in a case filed by newly-appointed Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and six executive councillors to declare Sivakumar’s actions null and void.

Below is the full press statement by senior constitutional lawyer Thomas, who was leading Sivakumar’s legal team. The statement was released today at 12.30pm.

“Because much public interest has been generated in this matter, it is important that I briefly state for the record what transpired in chambers before Ridwan Ibrahim, JC (Judicial Commissioner) this morning.

“I was told by the court interpreter that the judge wanted only one counsel from each party to attend before him in chambers. Counsel entered his chambers at about 9.45am.  

“The plaintiffs (Zambry and six others) were represented by Mohd Hafarizam Harun. The deputy state legal adviser Zulkifli also appeared in chambers. I represented the defendants. Once in chambers, I requested that the proceedings be held in open court because of the public interest in the matter.    

“The plaintiffs objected, and the judge ruled that it should be heard in chambers.

“At the outset, counsel for the plaintiffs stated that my team, Mr Chan Kok Keong, Mr Philip Koh, Mr Augustine Anthony and Mr Leong Cheok Keng and I had no locus standi to represent the defendants, namely the Speaker and the Perak state legislative assembly.

“According to him, only the state legal adviser can act for these two defendants. The one exception is a fiat granted by the Attorney General and/or the legal adviser under Section 24(3) of the Government Proceedings Act 1956. The state legal adviser supported this submission.

“I submitted that the Government Proceedings Act is not applicable on the facts of this case and these proceedings because the defendants do not come within the Government Proceedings Act as the Speaker is not a ‘public officer’ and the assembly is not ‘government’ within the meaning of that Act.   

“I also produced a letter by the Speaker appointing our team as the lawyers for the defendants.

“At the end of submissions which lasted about half an hour, the judge ruled that we have no locus standi  to represent the defendants. I then applied to hold a watching brief, but with speaking rights. The plaintiffs again objected. The court ruled that I could hold the watching brief but could not submit or participate in its proceedings.

“In consequence of the two rulings, I informed the judge I did not wish to remain in chambers, and sought his permission to leave.  

“The court recorded that I could withdraw from chambers, which I did at about 10.20am.”

See also:
Perak crisis deepens

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: crisis, high court, ipoh, lawyer, locus standi, Menteri Besar, Perak, Speaker, state legal adviser, Tommy Thomas, V Sivakumar, Zambry Abdul Kadir

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. KW Mak says

    March 3, 2009 at 9:56 pm

    Just a nitpick – there shouldn’t be an “s” after the apostrophe in Thomas’ name.

    Note: This was the subject of a long discussion in the newsroom when this story was uploaded. Although it is common practice now to drop the “s” after the apostrophe that denotes a singular possessive, this is nevertheless grammatically incorrect. For further reference, consult Strunk & White, etc.

    Shanon Shah
    Columns and Comments Editor

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph