KL may amend law to allow aliens to sue royalty
KL may amend law to allow aliens to sue royalty
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia is ready to study the possibility
of further amending the Federal Constitution concerning the right
to sue members of the royal families in their personal capacity,
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.
More amendments might be considered if that was what the
people wanted and to ensure justice, said Mahathir when
commenting on the Special Court's recent decision barring
foreigners from the right to sue the royalty.
"If we find that this (the Special Court decision) means there
is no justice, we may carry out a review," he was quoted by
Bernama news agency as saying.
He said the government had not provided a specific provision
on who had the right to file suits in the Special Court because
it did not think there would be foreigners who would want to sue
members of the royalty.
Mahathir stripped the pampered sultans and rajas of their
legal immunity from prosecution through constitutional amendments
passed by parliament in March 1993.
The Special Court was set up that year to try errant members
of the royal families.
Malaysian lawyers had last week stepped up calls for
constitutional amendments to entitle foreigners right to sue the
Malay rulers after a Singapore woman's landmark lawsuit.
The lawyers argued that the constitution had no specific
provisions to prohibit a foreigner suing a ruler, but the laws
were vague on such right and were open to various
interpretations.
The legal debate was sparked by a 4-to-1 ruling last week by
Malaysia's Special Court to dismiss a libel suit by Singapore
businesswoman Faridah Begum against the ruler of central Pahang
state, Sultan Ahmad Shah Abu Bakar, over a land deal.
Chief Justice of Malaya, Anuar Zainal, a member of the Special
Court, said in his judgment published Feb. 9 that Faridah had the
right to sue the sultan in his personal capacity in the Special
Court.
He argued that the question of reciprocity -- which means
Singaporeans cannot take Malaysia's monarch to court because
Malaysians have no right to sue Singapore's head of state -- did
not arise in this case.
This is because the Singapore president enjoys complete
immunity from being sued, even by Singapore's own citizens.
Malaysians can, however, seek redress against errant rulers in
the Special Court.
But Judge Anuar's views contrasted with that of his four
colleagues who ruled that Faridah had no right to sue the sultan
on principle of reciprocity.
The Pahang sultan was the first ruler taken to the Special
Court, and there is no right of appeal against a Special Court's
judgment.
Under Malaysia's unique rotating monarchy, the sultans and
rajas serve as titular heads of nine of the country's 13 states
and choose a king from among themselves to reign for five years.