Of the Pujut case and pensions for politicians

COMMENT | The dual citizenship saga of Dr Ting Tiong Choon who was disqualified as Pujut assemblyman in a Federal Court ruling on Feb 11 has been hotly debated in Sarawak over this past week.

This is a brief background of the case.

The apex court overturned the Court of Appeal ruling and that the Sarawak state assembly's move to disqualify Ting over his past dual citizenship was unlawful.

On July 2018, in a majority decision, the Court of Appeal upheld the Kuching High Court's ruling that the Sarawak Legislative Assembly's move to disqualify Ting over his Australian citizenship was unlawful, saying that it had acted beyond its jurisdiction.

Ting had acquired Australian citizenship in 2010 but renounced this on April 4, 2016, before he was voted in as the Pujut assemblyperson in the state election on May 7 that same year.

Everyone who waded in on the issue have their own views. That is normal and expected.

Some thought it was too harsh a decision while others said Ting got what he deserves for his "carelessness" and questioned his change of mind to return to Sarawak and partake in politics. Ting stood on a DAP ticket.

All are entitled to their opinions. Why, even two on the panel of the nine-member apex court bench gave a dissenting judgement and they were none other than Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong Dak Wah.

So do not expect all to agree on the legal interpretations of this case. There will never be a consensus; let’s leave it at that.

However, there was an interesting ...