The Malaysian Insider
By Debra Chong
By Debra Chong
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Chin Peng should have been allowed his day in court, the Bar Council said in an immediate response today after the Federal Court struck out the former communist leader’s bid to sue Putrajaya for breach of a peace treaty.
The top court’s ruling has effectively put an end to the 86-year-old’s last-ditch bid to clear his name and reopen the way for him to return home after more than 21 years.
“The court should not have struck off his application on a technicality.
“Let him bring his witnesses and ventilate everything in the High Court so we will know what the terms and story was behind the Agreement,” Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan told The Malaysian Insider when contacted this afternoon.
The top court’s ruling has effectively put an end to the 86-year-old’s last-ditch bid to clear his name and reopen the way for him to return home after more than 21 years.
“The court should not have struck off his application on a technicality.
“Let him bring his witnesses and ventilate everything in the High Court so we will know what the terms and story was behind the Agreement,” Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan told The Malaysian Insider when contacted this afternoon.
He added that the top court’s decision had negatively impacted Malaysia’s justice system from the human rights perspective and an individual’s access to justice.
A three-member bench of the Federal Court led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff had earlier dismissed Chin Peng’s application for leave, on grounds it did not fulfil the requirements of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act for it to show how the lower court had wrongly applied the law.
Ragunath said Chin Peng’s case was “unique” and involved the right of a citizen’s access to justice.
He noted that the top court had done the former secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) an injustice by denying him a chance to present his case in court.
“It’s clear as a fact and has been accepted that he is born here even if he can’t show proof of his citizenship papers,” the lawyer added.
One of the lawyers for Chin Peng — who now goes by his birth name, Ong Boon Hua — told reporters the case had never been given a full hearing when it started out in the High Court in 2005.
The lawyer, Chan Kok Keong, hinted they may yet take the case to an international arbitration centre for justice.
Chan told The Malaysian Insider he will be speaking with Chin Peng on the options left to him later today.
A three-member bench of the Federal Court led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff had earlier dismissed Chin Peng’s application for leave, on grounds it did not fulfil the requirements of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act for it to show how the lower court had wrongly applied the law.
Ragunath said Chin Peng’s case was “unique” and involved the right of a citizen’s access to justice.
He noted that the top court had done the former secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) an injustice by denying him a chance to present his case in court.
“It’s clear as a fact and has been accepted that he is born here even if he can’t show proof of his citizenship papers,” the lawyer added.
One of the lawyers for Chin Peng — who now goes by his birth name, Ong Boon Hua — told reporters the case had never been given a full hearing when it started out in the High Court in 2005.
The lawyer, Chan Kok Keong, hinted they may yet take the case to an international arbitration centre for justice.
Chan told The Malaysian Insider he will be speaking with Chin Peng on the options left to him later today.
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