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If UMNO 11 appeal had been heard...

by Dato Sri George Seah
Aliran Monthly 2003:11

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sallehabas (4K)
Appeal over in less than an hour?
A few people have asked me what would have happened if Tun Salleh Abas, the Lord President had been allowed to convene the sitting of the Supreme Court in 1988 to hear the UMNO 11 appeal consisting of nine judges made up of the followings:

  1. Tun Salleh Abas, Lord President
  2. Tan Sri Abdul Hamid, Chief Justice of the High Court in Malaya
  3. Tan Sri Lee Hun Hoe, Chief Justice of the High Court in Borneo
  4. Tan Sri Wan Suleiman
  5. Datuk George Seah
  6. Tan Sri Mohamed Azmi
  7. Tan Sri Hashim Sani Yeop
  8. Tan Sri Abdoolkader
  9. Tan Sri Wan Hamzah
(P.S. I will explain at the appropriate time why although ranked No. 5 in the hierarchy in the Supreme Court, I was still a Datuk, awarded to me by the State Governor of Sarawak).

In my view, the hearing of the appeal would have been all over in less than an hour as there was a binding precedent in the Supreme Court case of Dato Ong Kee Hui vs Sinyium (1983) 1MLJ 36. The Court was presided by Tan Sri Lee Hun Hoe, CJ, and the other two members were Tan Sri Salleh Abas and Datuk George Seah.

After declaring UMNO to be an unlawful society, Harun J (the trial judge) should have also declared the election of the UMNO President to be null and void. This was the main thrust of the UMNO 11 appeal to be determined by the Supreme Court.

Applying the ratio in the Dato Ong Kee Hui’s case, the Supreme Court very likely, would have declared the election of UMNO President to be null and void by a majority of 7 to 2.

The legal implications resulting from this declaration would have been as follows:
  1. By Convention, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong would normally invite:
    • the President of UMNO to form the government of Malaysia, if the BN had a majority of MPs in Parliament.
    • by declaring the 1987 election of the UMNO President null and void, the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir, would have had to tender his resignation to the King as a matter of honour.

  2. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong might have appointed Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah (who lost out to Dr. Mahathir in the Presidential UMNO election by a small majority) as Prime Minister of a caretaker government until a proper and lawful person was elected President of UMNO at a later date.
It is clear from the above scenario that the convening of a 9-member Bench of the Supreme Court would have had wide and far-reaching political ramifications in UMNO in particular and Malaysia in general. This was further demonstrated by the fact that after the suspension of Tun Salleh Abas, the Acting Lord President, Tan Sri Abdul Hamid, ordered the date fixed for the hearing of the UMNO 11 appeal to be vacated sine die.

Dato Sri George Seah is a former Malaysian Supreme Court judge


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