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TwitterSuit by ATM retirees has surpassed time limit, court told
2012-07-30 17:33
KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 (Bernama) -- The High Court here was today told that the writ of summon filed by 404 retirees of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) against the Malaysian and Singapore governments, as well as several other parties, for conspiracy, cheating and downgrading their dignity had surpassed the time limit.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, representing Malaysia's six prime ministers, beginning Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj to current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Chief Secretary to the government and other parties in the Malaysian government named as defendants in the suit, said it took 36 years for the suit to be filed.
He said the suit, by Tengku Zainal Abidin Tengku Yusoff, 58, on behalf of 403 former ATM officers should have been made within 36 months from Aug 1, 1972, when the salary scheme for ATM officers was approved by the then cabinet took effect.
Shamsul claimed that the suit was a violation of the court process and wanted it to be struck out because Tengku Zainal Abidin also failed to identity the 403 former ATM officers he claimed to represent.
Meanwhile lawyer Datuk Cyrus Das, representing former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the Government of the Republic of Singapore, also named the defendants in the suit, told the court that the plaintiff's application should be struck out because the representative action instituted by plaintiff was bad in law.
"The writ and service of the notice of writ out of jurisdiction in Singapore was bad. The plaintiff's action also is time barred and caught by limitation," he said.
Cyrus also said that Tengku Zainal Abidin had previously filed two similar suits and the present suit was an abuse of the court's process.
After the submission by Shamsul and Cyrus, Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin order Tengku Zainal Abidin to submit a written submission before Aug 6.
He also set Aug 15 for decision.
Earlier, Tengku Zainal Abidin, representing himself and the 403 former ATM officers, in his submission, raised mostly issues on the separation of Singapore from Malaysia and the decision role of the previous prime ministers in the decision making involving their salary.
Others named as defendants were the defence ministers from the era of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein right up to present defence minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as well as Malaysia's and Singapore's defence ministries secretaries-general.
In the statement of claim, the plaintiffs alleged that the first prime minister right up to the current sixth and the secretaries-general had cheated, conspired and abused their powers to downgrade the dignity of MAF officers by reducing the salary quantum of their corps and allowances since 1963 to the present time.
They are seeking a declaration that the cabinet decision in 1963 which sidelined the MAF from the Special Commission that was set up to review remuneration and service terms for the public sector, was wrong and unlawful.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, representing Malaysia's six prime ministers, beginning Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj to current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Chief Secretary to the government and other parties in the Malaysian government named as defendants in the suit, said it took 36 years for the suit to be filed.
He said the suit, by Tengku Zainal Abidin Tengku Yusoff, 58, on behalf of 403 former ATM officers should have been made within 36 months from Aug 1, 1972, when the salary scheme for ATM officers was approved by the then cabinet took effect.
Shamsul claimed that the suit was a violation of the court process and wanted it to be struck out because Tengku Zainal Abidin also failed to identity the 403 former ATM officers he claimed to represent.
Meanwhile lawyer Datuk Cyrus Das, representing former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the Government of the Republic of Singapore, also named the defendants in the suit, told the court that the plaintiff's application should be struck out because the representative action instituted by plaintiff was bad in law.
"The writ and service of the notice of writ out of jurisdiction in Singapore was bad. The plaintiff's action also is time barred and caught by limitation," he said.
Cyrus also said that Tengku Zainal Abidin had previously filed two similar suits and the present suit was an abuse of the court's process.
After the submission by Shamsul and Cyrus, Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin order Tengku Zainal Abidin to submit a written submission before Aug 6.
He also set Aug 15 for decision.
Earlier, Tengku Zainal Abidin, representing himself and the 403 former ATM officers, in his submission, raised mostly issues on the separation of Singapore from Malaysia and the decision role of the previous prime ministers in the decision making involving their salary.
Others named as defendants were the defence ministers from the era of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein right up to present defence minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as well as Malaysia's and Singapore's defence ministries secretaries-general.
In the statement of claim, the plaintiffs alleged that the first prime minister right up to the current sixth and the secretaries-general had cheated, conspired and abused their powers to downgrade the dignity of MAF officers by reducing the salary quantum of their corps and allowances since 1963 to the present time.
They are seeking a declaration that the cabinet decision in 1963 which sidelined the MAF from the Special Commission that was set up to review remuneration and service terms for the public sector, was wrong and unlawful.
2 comments:
This is a classic first world lawsuit filed in a lower third world country.If it is in a first world country top heads will roll but in a third world country it is the opposite,the one who sues will have his head rolls endlessly!
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