Suit against LKY and six others date fixed

Tuesday February 28, 2012

Case management date for army man’s suit fixed
By MAIZATUL NAZLINA
nazlina@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has fixed March 21 for a case management of a suit filed by a retired army captain against former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and six Malaysian leaders for alleged conspiracy, cheating and downgrading the dignity of 403 retired Malaysian armed forces officers.

High Court Judge Justice V.T. Singham fixed the date when the case came up for mention before him yesterday.

Kpt (Rtd) Tengku Zainal Abidin Tengku Yusoff, 58, claimed that he was acting on behalf of the 403 retired officers, who had held the ranks ranging from Second Lieute­nant to General.

Besides Lee, they also named Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the five prime ministers before him and the Chief Secretary to the Government as defendants.

The suit also named Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the defence ministers from the era of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein as well as the Malaysia’s and Singapore’s defence ministries’ secretaries-general, and the governments of Malaysia and Singapore as defendants.

In their statements of claim, the plaintiffs alleged that the first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman right up to the current Prime Minister and the defence ministries’ secretaries-general had cheated, conspired and abused their powers to downgrade the dignity of the Malaysian Armed Forces officers by reducing the salary quantum of their corps and allowances from 1963 to the present time.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that a Cabinet decision in 1963, which sidelined the armed forces from the Special Commis­sion that was set up to review the remuneration and service terms for the public sector, was wrong and unlawful.

They are also seeking a mandamus order (a writ from a superior court to an inferior court) against the Government of Malaysia for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the alleged wrongdoings by the prime ministers and the other defendants, claiming that these were tantamount to treachery.

The plaintiffs are also seeking general damages, punitive damages of RM3mil for each plaintiff, special compensation, costs, interests and other relief deemed fit by the court.The Star