Appeals Court Reinstates Suits To Remove Han Chiang School S Sole Trustee

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Plans to turn Penang’s Han Chiang School into a university have sparked years of legal disputes. (Han Chiang pic)
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reinstated two lawsuits to remove Lim Boon Lin, grandson of the late philanthropist Lim Lean Teng, as the sole trustee of Han Chiang School, one of Penang’s most prominent Chinese schools.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng ordered both suits, brought by the Penang Teochew Association (PTA) and Penang Han Chiang Associated Chinese Schools Association (PHCACSA), to be sent back to the High Court for a full trial.
It also ordered for a different judge to preside over the trial, saying the issues raised in the suits were too serious to be thrown out so easily.
Lee, who sat with Justices Azimah Omar and Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, said the two groups had obtained permission from the attorney-general (AG) to file the lawsuits, which was a legal requirement for matters involving public charitable trusts.
He said the AG’s consent was a clear sign that the cases brought against the trustee were not frivolous.
“While consent from the AG doesn’t automatically give the plaintiffs legal standing, it does show there’s something to be heard,” said the judge, in delivering the unanimous ruling.
Lee also said the associations were no strangers to the trust, with Han Chiang School’s original board of governors comprising members of both PTA and PHCACSA.
Lee cited a previous case involving the school, where the same two groups were allowed to question how the trust’s land was being used. The case had also been sent back to the High Court for a full hearing.
He said these suits should be treated the same way, and ordered any legal cost paid previously by the associations to be refunded. Case management at the High Court in George Town has been fixed for April 15.
The associations were represented by lawyers K Kirubakaran, Ong Yu Shin, Tham Shien Shyong, Loh Yeow Khoon and Phuah Wen Jian. Robert Lazaar, B Jeyasingam, Kiranjeet Kaur appeared for the respondents.
The two associations want to oust Boon Lin as the sole trustee of Han Chiang School and challenge his appointment of 10 new trustees.
The groups also want a ruling on whether a 12.5ha plot of land donated in 1948 by Lean Teng for the Chinese school could be used to set up a university under a proposed “education city” on its vast grounds off Green Lane.
In July last year, the Penang High Court struck out the two suits and ruled that the groups had no valid grounds to sue Boon Lin.
Justice Quay Chew Soon said the issues raised in both suits had already been decided on by the court in a previous action and cannot be re-litigated.
He also said the associations did not have any power under the trust indenture to appoint their own trustees or remove Boon Lin as trustee, and therefore had no legal standing to bring the suits.
Plans to turn Han Chiang School into a university have sparked years of disputes. Boon Lin insists that the land was meant only for a primary and secondary Chinese school. The associations, however, argue that the school’s mission must evolve with the times. - FMT

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