KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — The High Court in Shah Alam today rejected two similar court challenges by five local school teachers and 19 Universiti Malaya (UM) staff against an October 2021 government circular that made it compulsory for them to undergo vaccination against the Covid-19 virus.
Senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin told Malay Mail when contacted that High Court judge Shahnaz Sulaiman had dismissed the two judicial review applications with no order as to costs.
The five teachers from five different schools in Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka and Selangor jointly filed their court challenge on October 27, 2021 at the High Court in Shah Alam through a judicial review application against six respondents, namely the education minister, the education director-general, the Public Service Department’s (PSD) director-general, the health minister, the health director-general and the federal government.
They sought nine main court orders.
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Among the orders were to quash a decision to implement Covid-19 vaccination for public servants under the federal government as per the 2021 circular; and a declaration that they and other public servants have the freedom to choose whether or not to undergo Covid-19 vaccination.
The teachers also wanted the court to declare that being forced or being ordered to undergo Covid-19 vaccination would go against Articles 5, 8 and 9 of the Federal Constitution, and that no disciplinary action would be taken against them if they weren’t vaccinated.
Another thing they wanted was for the court to declare that the “informed consent” form before Covid-19 vaccinations would automatically be deemed invalid and cannot be used by the respondents to avoid any liabilities if the teachers were forced to undergo immunisation.
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The teachers also wanted the court to suspend the October 18, 2021 government circular on Covid-19 vaccination for federal public servants, until studies on Covid-19 vaccines are completed and verified by the World Health Organisation.
They wanted the court to compel the respondents to announce, through the media, eight items: Covid-19 vaccination side effects in Malaysia; when clinical trials on Covid-19 vaccination in Malaysia would be completed; the number of complete Covid-19 vaccinations; and data on Covid-19 infection rates in schools where there is 100 per cent Covid-19 vaccination.
The other items which the teachers wanted the respondents to be compelled to announce through the media are that public servants including themselves are not discriminated against at the workplace — such as not being allowed to teach face-to-face at work — because they chose not to undergo or have not completed Covid-19 vaccination.
On October 29, 2021, 19 UM staff members separately filed a similar judicial review application seeking nine main court orders and named the UM registrar, the PSD director-general, the health minister and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
Apart from wanting the court to quash the government’s decision for Covid-19 vaccination for public servants and to be given the freedom to choose whether to be involved in such vaccination, the UM staff wanted an order that being forced or ordered to undergo Covid-19 vaccination would go against the same Articles 5, 8 and 9.
The 19 UM staff also wanted the court to declare that they and other UM employees cannot be forced to undergo Covid-19 vaccination, claiming it to be an individual right that would violate Article 5.
MORE TO COME
