Judge Nazlan to hear dispute over vernacular schools
KUALA LUMPUR: Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who convicted former prime minsiter Najib Razak on seven counts of corruption last year, will now hear a suit filed by two organisations to challenge the existence of vernacular schools.
Nazlan who was in High Court (Criminal 3) has been moved to the civil division from March 1 and will take over hearing of the suit from Judge Wong Chee Lin who has since resigned.
In a virtual hearing today, Nazlan instructed the Association of Peninsular Malaysia Students and the Islamic Educational Development Council to amend the heading of the suit by March 15 to reflect that 13 parties are defendants in the action.
Lawyer Keshwinjit Singh, who represented the Malaysian Chinese Language Council, Malaysia Tamil Neri Kalagam and Gabungan Persatuan Pelajar Tamil Malaysia, said the judge also directed his clients and 10 other defendants to file their defence by April 15.
Suhakam and the Malaysian Bar are holding a watching brief. “He has fixed the next case management on April 27 at 4pm,” Keshwinjit told FMT.
Two organisations which filed a suit to challenge the existence of vernacular schools have sought to recuse Wong from hearing their case.
Last year, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla told Wong the two groups had written to the managing judge of the Kuala Lumpur High Court stating their intention to have the suit tried before another judge so the trial could be conducted in Malay.
The two groups are seeking a declaration that Sections 2, 17 and 28 of the Education Act 1996, and the extent to which they provide for the establishment of vernacular schools using Chinese and Tamil as the main languages, are inconsistent with Article 152(1) of the Federal Constitution and are considered null and void.
Wong had said she was competent enough to conduct the case in the national language.
