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Number of
confirmed H1N1
cases rises to 17
KUALA LUMPUR: Five new cases of Influenza
A(H1N1) have been detected in Malaysia,
bringing the total to 17, Director-General of
Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said
yesterday.
He said the 13th case was a 12-year-
old Malaysian boy who went on a holiday
in Manila from June 8 to 13 with three of
his family members. “The boy, whose seat
number was 15E, arrived on flight MH705 at
KL International Airport at 7.05pm on June 13
(Saturday),” he said in a statement.
The boy was detected and confirmed to
have fever and a cough during screening at
KLIA and warded at Sungai Buloh Hospital.
He was confirmed to have Influenza
A(H1N1) on Sunday and given anti-viral treat-
ment, and his parents and sister, with whom
he had close contact, were quarantined.
The 14th case was a 25-year-old British
tourist who arrived in Malaysia on June 8 on
flight EK342 from Dubai.
The tourist had spent the night at a hotel
in Kuala Lumpur before leaving for Tioman on
Berjaya Air flight J8190 (seat 5A) from Subang
Airport the next day. In Tioman, he stayed at
a hotel in Mukut.
On Wednesday, he started having fever
before seeking treatment at the Tekek health
clinic on Saturday. He was taken by boat to
Tanjung Gemuk, Rompin at 7.30pm the same
day and referred to Tengku Ampuan Afzan
Hospital in Kuantan.
Mohd Ismail said the tourist was con-
firmed to have Influenza A(H1N1) on Sunday
and was given anti-viral treatment and
reported to be in a stable condition.
“His girlfriend and closest contact in
Tioman was placed under quarantine and is
in good health,” he said.
The 15th case is a 16-year-old Malaysian
male student who returned for a vacation at
7.30pm on Saturday on Jet Star Airline flight
3K687 (seat 4A) via Singapore.
The teenager, who is studying in Mel-
bourne, had flown to Sydney on Tuesday and
then to Singapore on Qantas flight QS319
(seat 30D) before arriving in Malaysia.
He sought treatment at Ampang Hospital
on Sunday and was referred to Sungai Buloh
Hospital where he was confirmed to have
influenza A(H1N1).
He is in a stable condition and his mother,
who was on the same flight from Singapore,
is under quarantine.
Two more cases were confirmed yesterday
afternoon – a 14-year-old female student from
the US who was visiting relatives in Sabah and
a 24-year-old Malaysian woman who visited
Melbourne from June 4 to 13. – Bernama
Decision on seat rests with
Complaints
lodged
EC, not speaker, says court
with MACC PUTRAJAYA: It is for the Election Com-
against mission (EC), and not the Perak state
assembly speaker, to declare whether or
state rep not a state seat is vacant, the Federal Court
pg 4 ruled.
Federal Court judge Tan Sri Nik
Hashim Nik Ab Rahman, in his 20-page
judgment, said that under Section 12(3) of
the Elections Act 1958, the EC would have
to establish that a vacancy existed before
issuing a writ of by-election.
Therefore, the speaker could not inter-
fere with the constitutional duty of the EC
to establish whether there was a casual
vacancy.
“On a plain reading of Article 36(5) of
the Perak Constitution, read together with
Section 12(3) of the Elections Act, it is the
EC that establishes the casual vacancy,” Nik
AFPPIX
SHARIL AMIN/THESUN
Hashim said in the judgment dated June 8,
his last before he retires on July 1.
“Hence, we unanimously rule that
the decision of the speaker declaring the
three state seats vacant was unlawful and,
therefore, null and void as the decision
was contrary to Article 36(5) of the Perak
Constitution.”
A copy of the judgment was made
available to the media yesterday.
On April 9, a five-man bench led
by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri
Alauddin Mohd Sheriff held that the three
Perak state assemblymen who quit their
parties to become independent assembly-
men could keep their seats after ruling that
the EC had the right to declare whether or
not a state seat was vacant.
theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 16 2009
In a landmark decision, Alauddin
granted an application by Jamaluddin
Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Kapt (Rtd) Mohd
Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Hee
Yit Foong (Jelapang) to declare that they
were the state assemblymen for the three
constituencies.
The other four judges were Chief Judge
of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria, Federal
Court judges Nik Hashim and Datuk Seri
S. Augustine Paul, and Appeals Court
judge Datuk James Foong (now a Federal
Court judge).
The three assemblymen had applied
for their suit against former Perak speaker
V. Sivakumar to be referred to the apex
court on the grounds that it involved con-
stitutional issues.
They originally filed the suit in the Ipoh
High Court seeking a declaration that they
were the valid elected representatives for
the three seats although Sivakumar had
announced that the seats were vacant.
Nik Hashim said the receipt by the
speaker of a letter of resignation purport-
ing to be from an assemblyman had not
caused the seat to be vacant because un-
der Article 35 of the Perak constitution, the
speaker’s role was limited to receiving the
written resignation letter and forwarding
the letter to the EC.
The EC then, by its own procedure,
would determine whether or not a casual
vacancy had arisen.
“Once the casual vacancy is estab-
lished, it is the duty of the EC to fill the
vacancy by holding a by-election. With the
clear provisions of the respective powers
of the EC and the speaker, the fear of en-
croachment into the doctrine of separation
of powers by one body into another does
not arise,” he said. – Bernama
Protest ... Some 700 Iranians,
mostly students, gathered at Wisma
UN in Jalan Semantan, Kuala Lumpur
yesterday to hand over a memorandum
to protest the election win by President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Police fired tear
gas to disperse the protesters when they
became rowdy. See also page 8