KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): The appellate court has dismissed Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's appeal to take legal action against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the government over outstanding financial allocation for his constituency.
A three-member panel, led by Court of Appeal (COA) judge Datuk Hashim Hamzah, unanimously decided that the judicial review — in which Syed Saddiq claims the funds were paused after his party, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), had withdrawn its support for the unity government — was filed out of time and that the High Court did not err in its decision.
The panel said that the appeal's main issue was when the specific, impugned decision was made over outstanding allocation for the Muar constituency. By law, judicial reviews must be filed within three months to challenge the said decision.
The judges were of the view that the application should have been filed immediately after Sept 10, 2023, when Muda was aware that the funds were paused and that the leave application ought to have been filed by Dec 10, 2023.
"Regarding this issue, we have examined the supporting affidavit in which the appellant stated that after Muda withdrew from the unity government led by the first respondent (Anwar) and immediately after the announcement, access to the MyKHAS system, which manages the application for a RM2 million development allocation for the Muar parliamentary constituency, was revoked, and the remaining RM500,000 and all projects applied for and approved were revoked," Hashim said.
"Since the main issue [in the appeal] has been decided, other side issues also become irrelevant," he said.
The panel, which also consisted of COA judges Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, made no order as to cost as this was a public interest matter.
The appellants — Syed Saddiq, along with three local leaders from Muar who were impacted by the pause in funds — filed their leave application on April 23, 2024.
They argued that their application stands, as their letter to the government dated March 29, 2024 must be taken into account.
Among others, the letter stated that if the government failed to reply within seven days, the appellants would assume that the appeal for the funds to be reinstated is rejected.
Appearing for the appellants on Monday, lawyer Lim Wei Jiet argued that there was back and forth between the government and Syed Saddiq to reconsider resuming the allocation.
"Before the letter was sent [in March], the government had conducted themselves in such a manner which showed that they were willing to reconsider their earlier decision," he said.
However, Senior Federal Counsel Nurhafizza Azizan countered that the application never stated the specific date of the decision that is challenged.
She added that the decision date should be Sept 10, 2023, when Muda withdrew its support.
Syed Saddiq was appealing against the High Court's decision in December last year, which had denied leave to commence the legal action.
Among others, he was seeking a court order for the funds to be channelled to the constituency, and for his access to the MyKHAS system to be reinstated.
Syed Saddiq said that the payments had stopped because his party had withdrawn its support for the unity government as a response to the withdrawal of all 47 charges faced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his criminal trial.