A three-member Court of Appeal bench today ruled that the issue of succession to the Terengganu royal throne, sought by Tengku Sulaiman Tengku Abdul Halim, the eldest grandson of Tengku Ali Sultan Sulaiman, is res-judicata and not subject to trial in a court of law.

Res-judicata is a law term to mean a matter that has been adjudicated by a competent court and may not be pursued further by the same parties.

In the unanimous decision, Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, who headed the three-member panel, said the decision of the High Court in Kuala Terengganu to strike out the claim without proceeding through a trial is affirmed.

He also ordered Tengku Sulaiman to pay RM15,000 in costs.

The other judges were Justice Kamardin Hashim and Justice Hasnah Mohamed Hashim.

Tengku Sulaiman’s lawyer T Mura Raju indicated that they would file an application for leave to appeal before the Federal Court as there were legal issues concerning the Terengganu constitution.

Tengku Sulaiman's grandfather, Tengku Ali, was the Sultan of Terengganu from Sept 26, 1942 to Nov 5, 1945, after his great grandfather Sultan Sulaiman passed away during the Japanese occupation.

Tengku Ali was deposed and replaced by his uncle, Tengku Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III, who later became the sultan.

Tengku Ali's eldest son, Tengku Abdul Halim, is Tengku Sulaiman's father.

In his statement of claim filed in May last year, Tengku Sulaiman named Tengku Muhammad Ismail Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Isa @ Ghazali Endut, Tengku Ibrahim Tengku Hussain, Syed Omar Abdul Kadir Al Idrus and Sheikh Harun Sheikh Ismail, who are members of the Dewan Pangkuan Diraja Terengganu, and the Terengganu government, as defendants.

He claimed that being the eldest grandson of Tengku Ali, he had the right to the throne of the state.

In his submission, Mura Raju said the matter should be allowed to go for trial in the High Court as it has been proven that his client, Tengku Sulaiman, is of the “first class” Terengganu royal family lineage.

Senior lawyer Cecil Abraham, who appeared for the Dewan Pangkuan Diraja, said matters involving succession are non-justiciable in court and it is a matter of res-judicata as Tengku Ali had previously made a claim but it was dismissed by the court.

Cecil said Tengku Ali was not entitled as the High Court ruled, in the 1990s when the case was filed, that Tengku Ali was not the rightful ruler as he was not validly appointed.