Court rejects bid to halt contempt proceedings in Negeri Sembilan royal dispute

The Court of Appeal has dismissed applications by six people to stay the contempt proceedings against them over an alleged breach of a High Court injunction in a dispute concerning the appointment of the Yang Dipertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan.

The six are the former undang of Sungai Ujong, Mubarak Dohak; the undang of Jelebu, Maarof Mat Rashad; the undang of Johol, Muhammed Abdullah; the undang of Rembau, Abdul Rahim Yasin; the Tunku Besar of Tampin, Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al-Qadri; and the shahbandar of Sungai Ujong, Badarudin Abdul Khalid.

The court said the committal proceedings should be heard expeditiously to preserve the authority of the courts.

In a unanimous decision, Justice Amarjeet Singh, who delivered the judgment, said the appellants also failed to approach the court with clean hands.

The three-member bench was chaired by Justice Alwi Abdul Wahab and included Justice Shahnaz Sulaiman.

The dispute began on May 5, when Mubarak and the five others filed an originating summons seeking a copy of the minutes of a special Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) meeting held on April 17.

The minutes contained a decision to remove Mubarak as the Sungai Ujong undang.

On June 5, the High Court granted an ad interim injunction to maintain the status quo, including the existing composition of the DKU and Raja Norazli Raja Nordin’s position as its secretary, pending the determination of questions relating to jurisdiction and justiciability.

Raja Norazli later claimed media reports showed that the plaintiffs, particularly Maarof, were involved in the purported appointment of the Yang Dipertuan Besar under Article 11 of the Negeri Sembilan State Constitution 1959, despite the injunction remaining in force.

The DKU and Raja Norazli then obtained leave to initiate committal proceedings against the six.

On July 8, High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain found a prima facie case of contempt and ordered the six to answer the allegations.

They subsequently appealed and applied for a stay under Section 44 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

Amarjeet said the leave stage was only a preliminary exercise, with the substantive hearing to determine the merits of the allegations, including the claimed immunity of the ruling chief.

The court also noted that the appellants filed a separate judicial review in the Kuala Lumpur High Court without disclosing the injunction or the grant of leave to commence committal proceedings.

It dismissed both applications and ordered the six to pay RM60,000 in costs to the two respondents.

The six appellants were represented by Asmawi Ismail and Nur Asnani Basharudin, while Steven Thiru, Shafrin Halim and Gurjeevan Singh Sachdev appeared for the respondents.

Shafrin later told reporters that the High Court had fixed Nov 17 for case management of the contempt proceedings before Roz Mawar.

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