Appeals court dismisses NGOs appeal, ruling TPPA did not violate Federal Constitution

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today dismissed an appeal by three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) by the government, ruling that the TPPA did not violate the Federal Constitution.
Justice Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, who read the decision, said it was a trite law that not all government policies were subjected to a judicial review, unless it was inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.
"This court took cognizance of the fact that government policies emanate after consideration of a number of technical factors which were often non-legal, and judges do not possess the necessary information and expertise to evaluate these non-legal factors and to pass judgment on the appropriateness or adequacy of a particular policy," he added.
Justice Abdul Rahman said that it would be dangerous to ask the court to test the effect of the government policy as the jurisdiction belonged to the executive.
"Where the policy or action of the executive is inconsistent with the Constitution and the law, or in any manner arbitrary, irrational, or there are elements of mala fides and abuse of power, the court is duty bound to interfere.
"In this case we (the panel) are not convinced that the TPPA violates the Federal Constitution," said Justice Abdul Rahman, who sat on the panel led by Justice Datuk Rohana Yusuf.
The other judge is Justice Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat.
The court made the ruling after dismissing the appeal brought by the three NGOs, namely the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), Urusetia Menangani Gejala Sosial (Unggas Malaysia) and the Malay Education and Welfare Association of Malaysia (Teras).
They had appealed against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on Jan 12 this year, which refused to give them leave to initiate a judicial review in their bid to prevent the government from signing the TPPA.
In the application, the three NGOs named Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, Minister of International Trade and Industry and the Malaysian government as respondents.
The High Court had dismissed the application by the three NGOs on the grounds that the government had yet to sign the agreement and therefore it was non-justifiable.
The High Court made the ruling after allowing the respondents' objection against the leave application.
The government had signed the TPPA on Feb 4 this year.
The NGOs had sought a declaration that the signing of the TPPA was unconstitutional and could undermine the sovereignty of the country.
Apart from Malaysia, countries involved in the TPPA negotiations were the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan represented the respondents, while lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla acted for the NGOs. — Bernama