Federal Court needs more time to decide on Raja Petra’s application

Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin will have to wait a little longer to know whether he succeeds in his application to review the Federal Court's decision to retain Justice Datuk Augustine Paul as one ofthe three judges to hear the appeal against his (Raja Petra's) release fromInternal Security Act (ISA) detention.

The Federal court's quorum, comprising Court of Appeal President Tan SriAlauddin Mohd Sheriff, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin Zakaria and ChiefJudge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, reserved their judgment on the matter as they needed time to consider the points of law raised in the proceeding.

The panel had earlier heard submissions from Raja Petra's counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

If Raja Petra succeeds in this review application, another three-men bench of judges would be chosen to hear the Home Minister's appeal to reverse the Shah Alam High Court's decision to release Raja Petra, 58, from the Kamunting detention camp after holding that his detention was unconstitutional.

In the review proceedings today, Malik Imtiaz argued that the two-men panel's decision to deny Raja Petra's application to restrain Paul from hearing the appeal was unlawful and unconstitutional due to quorum failure.

Malik said the sitting by the two-men panel on Feb 17 had contravened Section 74 (1) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 which requires a minimum of three judges to sit on the bench to adjudicate cases in the Federal Court.

Malik also refuted Tun Majid's contention that the applicant (Raja Petra)was quorum shopping.

Raja Petra sought Paul's recusal from hearing the appeal on the grounds that Raja Petra had made several remarks about the judge on his website since 2000.

The blogger said Paul had formed an opinion that he was a threat to national security in a judgment in 2001.

Meanwhile, the hearing of the Home Minister's appeal against Raja Petra's release from ISA detention, which was scheduled to be heard today, has been put on hold pending the outcome of the Federal Court's decision on his (Raja Petra's) review application.

The review application was filed on Friday, three days after the two-quorum panel comprising Justices Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Ab. Rahman and Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin reinstated Paul to the bench and dismissed Raja Petra's bid to disqualify Augustine Paul on Feb 17.

Nik Hashim had ruled that the law provided that he and Zulkefli could hearthe application if a judge was unable to attend proceedings for some reason and the two-men panel subsequently went on to hear and dismissed three other applications sought by Raja Petra.

Meanwhile, Tun Majid today argued that the two-men panel was lawfully constituted.

He said Raja Petra's bid seeking Paul's recusal was tainted with malice and an abuse of courts power.

"It would be shopping for judges and forcing the CJ (Chief Justice) to constitute another panel and transfer this case to the panel. It is a waste of time of this court. It (Raja Petra's conduct) is at the border of committing contempt of court," Tun Majid said.

Raja Petra was not present in court today. – Bernama