![\"high-profile\"](\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe decision was handed down by Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew How Wai when allowing a judicial review application brought by five Malaysian youths, who are\u00a0from Sarawak and aged between 18 and 20,\u00a0\u00a0to seek immediate enforcement of an amendment in the\u00a0Federal Constitution to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In quashing the government\u2019s and Election Commission\u201ds (EC) decision to defer implementation of the constitutional amendment. which includes Undi18 and automatic voter registration (AVR), the court also ordered for all necessary steps to be taken for the constitutional amendment to come into operation as soon as possible and by December 31, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequently, the Attorney-general\u2019s Chambers released a Federal Government Gazette dated Dec 1 for implementation of Undi18 and AVR\u00a0 to take effect on Dec 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another historic decision was made on Sept 9, when High Court Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to foreigners are entitled by operation of law to be citizens of Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Akhtar ruled that Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution must also mean and include mothers, hence, he made an order that all the relevant authorities must issue relevant documents, like identity cards, to six children in recognition of this effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court made the ruling after allowing a legal suit filed by the Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers) and six Malaysian women who are married to foreigners for their overseas-born children to have the right to become Malaysian citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Dec 22, the Court of Appeal dismissed\u00a0applications by the\u00a0Malaysian government, Home Minister, and the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general to\u00a0stay the ruling pending their appeal which was set on March 23 next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-profile case\u00a0that caught the nation\u2019s attention was the murder of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\u00a0Nov 2, six UPNM’s students escaped the gallows but were sentenced to 18 years jail by High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah after finding them guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to the murder of Zulfarhan Osman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge, in his decision, said that the court found all the accused guilty under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code for causing injuries to the Zulfarhan Osman\u00a0with no intent to murder, an\u00a0offense that carries a jail term of up to 30 years and shall also be liable to a fine, upon conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following day (Nov 3), Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun said the Attorney-General\u2019s Chambers (AGC) would appeal against the High Court\u2019s ruling in convicting the six students of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another case that made headlines was on a High Court decision on Feb 3 in sentencing former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad to six years in jail and a fine of RM15.45 million, in default 18 years\u2019 jail, after finding him guilty of nine counts of corruption involving RM3 million over the agency\u2019s purchase of Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites (MPHS) in Kuching, Sarawak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not satisfied with the ruling, the former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar filed an appeal to\u00a0the Court of Appeal and submitted 40 grounds why he should be freed of the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor\u2019s graft case made headlines after the Appeals Court, on July 16, acquitted and discharged him of the charge after allowing the former Federal Territories Minister’s appeal to quash his conviction and sentence of 12-month jail and RM2 million fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Datuk Suraya Othman, who read the 2-1 majority decision held that the RM2 million cheque that Tengku Adnan received from businessman Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong was a political donation to UMNO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-profile case\u00a0that caught the nation\u2019s attention was on the acquittal of\u00a0Pontian Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan\u00a0on charges of failing to declare RM2 million which he received from Najib to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and giving false statements to the Malaysian Anti -Corruption Commission (MACC).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sept 29, High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ordered Ahmad to be freed after the prosecution informed the court that the prosecution was withdrawing the two charges after the accused paid a compound of RM1.1 million. high-profile<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MACC,\u00a0in a statement issued on the same day (Sept 29), stated that the RM1.1 million compound issued against Ahmad was a punitive act and a form of asset recovery under the country\u2019s anti-money laundering law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same goes\u00a0to UMNO legal advisor,\u00a0Datuk\u00a0Mohd Hafarizam Harun who was also freed from money laundering charges involving\u00a0RM15 million,\u00a0which he allegedly received from Najib, after the prosecution,\u00a0 \u00a0on\u00a0July 30, informed the Sessions Court that the prosecution was withdrawing all three money laundering charges against the lawyer,\u00a0who agreed for the cases to be compounded\u00a0amounting to RM590,587.26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-profile case that made headlines was the death of\u00a0French-Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nora, 15, from Balham, south London, went missing while on a family holiday at a resort in Seremban in August 2019. Her nude body was found\u00a010 days later\u00a0near a ravine, which is\u00a0about 2.5 kilometers from the resort, following a massive search.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 16, Seremban\u00a0High Court Judge Azizul Azmi Adnan\u00a0substituted the Coroner\u2019s Court verdict that Nora Anne Quoirin\u2019s death was due to misadventure with an open verdict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An open verdict generally means that the cause of death could not be determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court made the ruling following an application by Nora\u2019s family\u00a0for a revision of the Coroner\u2019s Court verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-profile case that made headlines was the rape case involving Tronoh Assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong in\u00a0Ipoh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ipoh High Court on Dec 7\u00a0ordered Yong to enter his defence on a charge of raping his Indonesian maid after finding that the prosecution had proved a prima facie case against him at the end of their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court set Feb 15 and 16 next year for Yong\u2019s defence trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-profile trial that also captured public attention was Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s case. She was ordered by the High Court to enter her defense on three corruption charges involving the solar hybrid project in Sarawak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosmah, 70, who is Najib\u2019s wife, gave her statement from a witness stand for the first time on Oct 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from that, on Dec 6, High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence set Jan 24 for a decision on whether former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would be acquitted or to be ordered to enter his defense on 47 criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering charges involving Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge fixed the date after hearing the submissions that lasted for 24 days beginning Sept 6, 2021. The prosecution closed its case on March 19 after calling 99 witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last but not least, was the high-profile case involving Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on July 22\u00a0with committing criminal breach of trust of funds belonging to a political party\u00a0amounting to RM1 million\u00a0and misusing RM120,000 in donations for the 14th general election (GE14) campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Aug 5, he was brought to the Johor Bahru Sessions Court to face two money laundering charges amounting to RM100,000. All the cases were ordered to be tried at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Dec 14, the Sessions Court ordered former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony to enter his defense on a charge with falsifying a letter from the office of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Deputy Vice-Chancellor for a system maintenance contract work at the university in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judge Azura Alwi made the decision after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against Peter, 50, at the end of the prosecution case. The court fixed Jan 3 to 7 next year for the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NMT<\/a> as reported by Bernama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — 2021 is truly a momentous year for the Malaysian judiciary, with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50-300x162.png",300,162,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-27-at-13.51.50.png",589,319,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12810,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12808\/revisions\/12810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}