On Tuesday, the High Court dismissed Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq's application for a judicial review order, seeking to challenge the government's decision to withdraw his constituency's funding.
Judge Dato' Wan Ahmad (who has been promoted to the Court of Appeal) stated in his ruling that the application exceeded the time limit and that he has no authority to decide on the matter.
“This application was not filed within the 3-month time frame stipulated by law. Funding matters are administrative issues and do not fall within the jurisdiction of the court.”
He noted today (24th) that there is no clause in the Federal Constitution that stipulates government agencies must allocate such funds to any Member of Parliament, regardless of their support for the government.
“Therefore, the application for this order is dismissed... given the public interest involved in this case, I do not impose court costs.”
After the court session, Syed Saddiq told reporters that he would appeal today's ruling to the Court of Appeal.
Syed Saddiq and three voters filed the application for a judicial review order on April 23 this year, naming the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Malaysian government as the first and second respondents.
The three voters are Najib Abu, Mohamad Bajiruddin, and Mohamad Fazli.
In the application, the four stated that the government was supposed to disburse MYR 1.7 million in funding to the Muar Constituency People's Service Center for the benefit and disaster relief of the Muar people, but MYR 500,000 of it has not been paid. They sought to overturn the government's decision to stop disbursing the remaining funding.
They also sought to restore Syed Saddiq's access to the MYR 2 million allocation management system, myKHAS, for the Muar constituency, and to overturn the government's decision to cancel several projects worth a total of MYR 233,000 approved through that system.
They also challenged the government's refusal to approve or disburse funds to Syed Saddiq as the Muar Member of Parliament for implementing the 2024 People-Friendly Plan or a similar plan.
The applicants argued that the respondents have infringed upon the equal rights enjoyed by Syed Saddiq as a Member of Parliament for Muar and the other three applicants as affected voters in the constituency under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.