PUTRAJAYA, Nov 29 — Batu MP Chua Tian Chang lost his bid to strike out a sedition charge at the Court of Appeal today and will have to stand trial for purportedly linking the “Umno government” to the Lahad Datu, Sabah intrusion by Sulu gunmen earlier this year.

Chua’s lawyer Eric Paulsen told The Malay Mail Online the case will return to the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for trial.

The mention date has been set for December 4.

“The Court of Appeal dismissed our application, it would mean that Tian Chua (picture) has to continue with the trial,” Paulsen said, referring to the PKR vice-president by his popular moniker.

The lawyer said Chua still has the final option of appealing to Malaysia’s top court to push for the sedition charge to be struck out.

“On our side, we will discuss whether to appeal to the Federal Court,” he said.

Chua’s other lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad also told The Malay Mail Online that no reasons were given by the judges, who had ruled today that there were “no merits” to the case.

According to Paulsen, Chua’s lawyers had earlier today argued that the sedition case against him was done “in bad faith” and amounted to “selective prosecution”, citing an alleged “trend” of sedition charges against the federal opposition, “dissidents and student activists”.

Paulsen said they were not seeking to interfere with the Attorney-General’s (A-G) discretion to bring charges, but added that they had also raised the issue of the possibility of an abuse of the court process.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim headed the prosecution, which had countered that there was no selective prosecution and that it was up to the A-G to decide who to prosecute, Paulsen said.

The three-man panel at the Court of Appeal today comprised Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif, Datuk Abdul Malik Ishak and Datuk Lim Yee Lan.

On September 26, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah dismissed Chua’s April 12 application to quash the charge against him, and ordered for the trial at the Sessions Court to proceed.

On March 14, the politician was charged in the Sessions Court here with sedition over his statements allegedly made on March 1.

If convicted under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948, Chua will face a three-year jail term or a fine of up to RM5,000 or both.

A conviction may result in Chua losing his Batu parliamentary seat, as a fine of RM2,000 is enough to disqualify him from continuing as a member of Parliament.