KUCHING: Judicial Commissioner Christopher Chin’s dismissal of Petronas’ application is a decision that should make all Malaysians proud, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Yesterday, Petronas was unsuccessful in its application to recuse Chin from hearing the case on the Sarawak government’s lawsuit against the national oil company over the unpaid five percent state sales tax.
Abdul Karim opined that arguments on being a temporary judge and others raised by Petronas seemed to allude to telling Chin that if he did not decide in their favour, he may not get promoted to a higher position.
“The Judicial Commissioner pushed all of this aside and stood firm. There is no element of bias,” he commended.
He said this in a video posted on his Facebook page yesterday.
“I feel that this sort of argument should not have been raised at all, and I am very proud to see the decision made by Chin on the subject,” he said.
He described Chin’s decision as ‘good and very brave’.
He pointed out that RM50,000 had been awarded to the plaintiff.
“Hopefully in the future, lawyers will not come up with this sort of ridiculous arguments to fight for their cases. It is embarrassing,” said Abdul Karim.
